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apis

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word apis

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈa.pɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈaː.pis][1]

Forms

apis f (genitive apis); third declension[1] The genitive plural is apium and also apum, as in Livy;[2][3] a nominative apēs is also found,[2][3] which Priscian and Probus give as the usual form,[4] although the Appendix Probi says “apes, not apis”.[5]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[5][3] De Vaan finds no accepted etymology; he calls conceivable Vennemann's proposal of a Semitic loanword, comparing Egyptian ꜥfj (“bee”).[3] Wiktionary reports the older reconstruction ⟨*e/a(m)p-i-⟩ “stinging insect”, comparing Ancient Greek ἐμπίς (empís, “gnat”) and German Imme (“bee”),[1] as Köbler does.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus;[3] Köbler too gives Plautus.[6]

Semantic evolution

It is the bee.[2][4][1] A swarm of bees was a portent, as in Cicero's swarm that flew onto the stage at the games, in Virgil's Aeneid and in Livy's swarm that settled in the forum at Casinum.[2]

Church Latin keeps it as “bee”,[7] and Köbler finds it in the Bible and in the Bavarian, Burgundian, Lombard, Ripuarian, Salian and Saxon laws.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a swarm as a portent.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a swarm in the forum at Casinum.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bee.[2][4][1][7]

Usage notes

Āpis with a long first vowel is the sacred bull of the Egyptians,[2][4] from Ancient Greek Ἆπις (Âpis);[4][1] Pliny the Elder also names a harbour Apis.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Apis.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/apis. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·