vates

Forms

vātēs m or f (genitive vātis); third declension^[1] Plautus has the nominative vātis, and Cicero the genitive plural vātium beside vātum.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *wāt-(ē)i-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(H)weh₂t-i- (“seer”).^[2][1] It is one of the words shared by Italic and Celtic: cognate with Old Irish fáith (“seer, prophet”) and Welsh gwawd (“poem, satire”), and with a Gaulish word for seers recorded by Strabo.^[2][4][5] The OLD also compares Gothic 𐍅𐍉𐌸𐍃 (wōþs, “frenzied, possessed”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[2] who has bonus vātēs poterās esse, nam quae sunt futūra dīcis, “you could be a good prophet, for you tell what is to come”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Vātēs is “a prophet, seer”, seen as the mouthpiece of the god who possesses him, and also a prophetess.^[4][3][1] From the Augustan poets on it is “a poet, bard”, as divinely inspired: Horace hopes to be counted among the lyricī vātēs, “the lyric bards”.^[4][1]

Church Latin glosses it “prophet, seer”,^[6] and in Medieval Latin it can mean “a bishop”.^[7] English vates, “poet, bard”, is from the 1620s.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: bonus vātēs poterās esse.^[4][8]
• 65–8 BC – Horace: lyricīs vātibus.^[4][8]
• 1620s – English vates.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A prophet, seer, soothsayer; a prophetess.^[4][3][1][6]
2. A poet, bard.^[4][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A bishop.^[7]

Word family

• vāticinor

Related words

• English vates

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de