celes

Forms

celēs m (genitive celētis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κέλης (kélēs, “racehorse; fast-sailing boat”).^[1][2][3] The TLL and Georges compare the native celox, which Lewis & Short call the pure Latin word for the boat.^[2][4][5] Köbler compares the Greek word with Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to drive”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation for the boat is an inscription from Africa that mentions hypereticos celetas, fast attendant boats; the TLL suggests the line may come from Lucilius.^[1][2] The first dated author is Pliny the Elder (23/24–79 AD).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Pliny uses it for a small, fast boat, which he says the Rhodians introduced,^[1][6] and, in the plural, for the statues of racehorses that victors dedicated: celetas tantum dicabant in sacris victores “victors dedicated only racehorses in the sanctuaries”.^[1] Aulus Gellius has it in a list of kinds of ship,^[4][5] and Servius comments on the racehorse in his notes on the Aeneid.^[5]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for racehorse statues and for a fast boat of the Rhodians.^[1][6][3]
• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius lists it among kinds of ship.^[4][5][3]
• c. 400 AD – Servius explains it in his notes on the Aeneid.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small, fast boat; a yacht.^[1][5][4]
2. A racehorse, or a statue of one.^[1][5][7]

Usage notes

A medieval glossary has celes for a lyre, which Du Cange corrects to chelys, from Greek.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre