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feles

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word feles

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
Plautus, c. 200 BC

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfeː.ɫeːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfɛː.les][1]

Forms

fēlēs f (genitive fēlis); third declension[1] Also fēlis, and the spellings faelēs, faelis.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[4][2] A connection with Welsh bele (“marten”), from ⟨*bʰelego-⟩, is possible, but ⟨fēlēs⟩ could go back to other forms than one in ⟨*bʰel-⟩.[4][3] The inflection may continue an ē-stem, an n-stem or a root noun; the ē-stem type may have spread among names of wild animals, as in mēlēs (“badger”), volpēs and verrēs.[4] The OLD and the TLL compare the badger's name,[2][3] and Wiktionary notes that a link with it would need an unusual alternation of /f/ and /m/, which might point to a substrate word.[1] Köbler connects it with Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shining, white”).[5]

Wiktionary also mentions a doubtful link with fulica (“coot”) (“animal with a shiny coat”) and a proposed one with fēlīx and fēllō1 (“to suck”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[4][5] who uses it jokingly of a man as a thief of girls, fēlēs virginaria.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The word covered several small hunting animals: the cat,[6][1] and the marten or polecat that raids the poultry yard, as in Varro and Columella.[6][2] Ovid tells how Diana hid in the shape of a cat,[7][6] and Pliny the Elder notes that the eyes of night animals such as cats shine in the dark.[7] As in Plautus it could be used of a thief, and Ausonius has a fēlēs pullaria, a snatcher of chickens.[6] Fēlis oculus was a plant.[2][7]

From the derived fēlīnus comes English feline (1680s), and Modern Latin took Felis as the name of the cat genus.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 200 BC – Plautus uses it for a thief of girls.[6][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the marten that kills poultry.[6][5]
  • 43 BC–AD 18 – Ovid uses it for a cat.[6][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it for the marten.[6][5]
  • 1680s – English feline is borrowed from the derived fēlīnus.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any of several small carnivores, such as the marten, polecat or wild cat.[2][6]
  2. A cat.[6][1][7]
  3. (figurative) A thief.[6][7]
  4. fēlis oculus: a plant.[2]

Word family

  • fēlīnus
  • mēlēs
  • English feline

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

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

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