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Caesar

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word Caesar

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkae̯.sar][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈt͡ʃɛː.s̬ar][1]

Forms

Caesar m (genitive Caesaris); third declension[1] The OLD records the spellings Caeser (on a coin of Vespasian and in inscriptions), Caisar (on a coin of 27–23 BC and in inscriptions) and a genitive Caesarus.[2] It was abbreviated Caes.[3][1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[1][4] Köbler mentions a possible connection with caesariēs (“head of hair”),[4] and Lewis & Short, following Döderlein, and the Century Dictionary cited by Etymonline prefer caesius (“bluish grey”), of the colour of the eyes or skin.[5][6]

Ancient writers gave several explanations.[1] Pliny the Elder derived it from a child cut from the mother's womb, as if from caedō (“to cut”), and Festus from a child born with a full head of hair;[5][7] Isidore of Seville and the Historia Augusta repeat both.[5][7] Wiktionary adds the story that it was a Punic word for an elephant, which an ancestor of the family had killed, and an explanation from blue eyes.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is the first author the OLD cites for the name, of Gaius Julius Caesar, and also of the orator Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo Vopiscus.[2]

Semantic evolution

It was a surname of the Julian family, whose most famous member was Gaius Julius Caesar; the plural Caesarēs meant the members of the family, as in Ovid's Caesaribus virtūs contigit ante diem, “to the Caesars valour came before its time”.[2][5] Octavian inherited the name, and it passed to the emperors after him;[2][5] used alone it meant Augustus or one of his successors, as in Ovid's Caesar in urbe suā deus est, “Caesar is a god in his own city”.[2] The TLL notes that every emperor after Augustus bore it except Vitellius.[3] From there it became a word for “the emperor” or “an emperor”, as in Lucan and Tacitus, and it was given to other members of the imperial family.[2] Under Hadrian a distinction arose: Augustus meant the reigning emperor, and Caesar the heir to the throne.[5][8] Döderlein explains it as the emperor seen as a member of the imperial family, and after Galba simply as its successor.[9]

The glossaries render it with Greek βασιλεύς (basileús, “king”) and gloss it as imperātor or Augustus.[10] In Christian and Medieval Latin it meant an emperor, and also a king or civil ruler;[11][12] Alcuin in 802 cites the appeal to Caesar in the Acts of the Apostles.[11] Etymonline traces the sense “temporal power, as against God” to the Gospel of Matthew.[6]

Germanic borrowed it as *kaisaraz, the source of German Kaiser, and Slavic as *cěsařь, the source of tsar.[1][4][6] Greek has Καῖσαρ (Kaîsar) and Arabic قَيْصَر (qayṣar).[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of Gaius Julius Caesar.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it alone for Augustus.[2][4]
  • 27–23 BC – A coin spells it Caisar.[2]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses the plural for the family.[2][4]
  • 39–65 AD – Lucan uses it for the emperor.[2][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus has “Galba named me Caesar”.[2][4]
  • 802 – Alcuin writes of the appeal to Caesar.[11]
  • late 14th century – English borrows it as cesar, an emperor or ruler.[6]

Meanings

Proper noun

  1. A cognomen in the Julian family, especially that of Gaius Julius Caesar;[2][5][1] (plural) the members of the family.[2][5][1]
  2. The name inherited by Octavian and later emperors; used alone, Augustus or one of his successors.[2][8]
  3. The emperor; an emperor.[2][12]
  4. A name of other members of the imperial family; from Hadrian onwards, the heir to the throne.[2][5][8]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A king or civil ruler.[11]

Word family

  • Caesareus
  • Caesariānus
  • Caesarīnus

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes the words for the emperor: prīnceps for the holder of the highest civil power, imperātor for the holder of the highest military command, and Caesar for the member and heir of the ruling family.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  8. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  10. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  11. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Caesar.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/Caesar. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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