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calathus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word calathus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek κάλαθος
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek κάλαθος

Forms

calathus m (genitive calathī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κάλαθος (kálathos, “wicker basket”).[2][3][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Virgil,[4] who uses it of baskets, of vessels for curdled milk and of wine cups.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It is a wicker basket or hand basket, for flowers, wool, thread or fruit;[2][3] Lewis & Short give quasillum as the native word.[2][3] By extension it is any vessel of similar shape: a vessel for making cheese or holding milk, and a wine cup.[2][3] Pliny the Elder uses it of a cradle for washing gold, and Columella of the cup of a lily.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of baskets, milk vessels and cups.[2][3][4]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of the cup of a lily.[2]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a cradle for gold.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wicker basket, for flowers, wool or fruit.[2][3][1][5]
  2. A vessel for making cheese or holding milk; a milk pail.[2][3][1]
  3. A cup or goblet for wine.[2][3]
  4. A cradle for washing gold.[2]
  5. The cup or calyx of a flower.[2][3]
  • calathiscus

Usage notes

The Appendix Probi corrects galatus to calatus, and the manuscripts often spell it galat(h)us or calatus.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ Appendix Probi, a late antique list of correct and censured Latin word forms ("calida non calda"); ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini IV, Leipzig 1864, 197–199.
  7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Calathus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/calathus. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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