Etymologically
Log in

celox

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 25 October 2026 at 01:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɛ.ɫoːks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈt͡ʃɛː.loks][1]

Forms

celōx f or m (genitive celōcis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Ancient Greek κέλης (kélēs, “racehorse; fast boat”), with its ending taken from vēlōx (“swift”).[2][3][4] De Vaan gives this as one possibility; the other is that it is a rhyming formation on ⟨vēlōx⟩, with its first syllable from celer (“swift”).[4] Lewis and Short and Wiktionary take it as an old adjective from the root of ⟨celer⟩, with the suffix of ferōx and atrōx, later used as a noun with nāvis (“ship”) understood.[5][1]

The ancient grammarian Nonius, as the TLL reports, said the boat was named from its speed.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on:[4] in the Asinaria a character asks where to steer “this cutter”, meaning a person, and the Captivi mentions a state boat (publica celox).[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It named a light, fast boat, a cutter or yacht, in Ennius, Varro and Livy.[2][5][6] Plautus played with it, calling a messenger girl a celox and, in jest, a full belly a loaded cutter.[2][5] Döderlein counts it, with lembus and liburna, among the boats that could be manned and armed for war, as distinct from mere skiffs.[7]

The word lived on in Medieval Latin for a fast ship;[8][9] Anglo-Saxon glossaries render it with Old English words for a ship.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a state boat and figuratively of people.[2][5][10]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it, in a fragment Isidore quotes.[5][10]
  • 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of a fast boat.[5][6][10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A light, fast boat, a cutter or yacht.[2][5]
  2. (figurative) A person, as a messenger or go-between.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A fast ship.[8][9]

Word family

  • celōcula

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ a b c 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
  10. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de