vates

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See also: vätes

English

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Etymology

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From Latin vātēs, from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂t- (excited, possessed); cognate with Proto-Celtic *wātis (seer) (Gaulish ουατεις, Old Irish fáith, Welsh gwawd) and Proto-Germanic *wōdaz (mad) (Old English wōd (mad, frenzied), Gothic 𐍅𐍉𐌳𐍃 (wōds, possessed, mad), Old High German wuot (mad, madness). More at wood (crazy, mad, insane) and wode.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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vates

  1. A poet or bard who is divinely inspired.
    • 1833 May, “Hayward’s Translation of Goethe’s “Faust””, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume VII, number XLI, London: James Fraser [], →OCLC, page 532, column 1:
      [Percy Bysshe] Shelley, a true vates, was called upon by their divine influence to render some choice passages from this very Faust, which, from confessed inability, [Francis Leveson-]Gower had left unattempted in his precious version, and some which from other motives he had purposely reticensed.
    • 1999, Dennis Richard Danielson, The Cambridge Companion to Milton, Cambridge University Press, page 57:
      The volume is haunted by the death of the vates (poet-prophet) Orpheus, who failed to revive Eurydice from death and was then torn apart by maenads.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Proto-Italic *wātis, from Proto-Indo-European *wéh₂t-i-s (seer), from *weh₂t- (to be excited).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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vātēs m (genitive vātis); third declension

  1. seer, soothsayer, diviner, prophet, prophetess
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.65:
      Heu, vātum ignārae mentēs!
      Alas, the unknowing minds of diviners!
      (Ambiguity: The statement may refer either to the haruspices accompanying Dido and Anna, or to the sisters’ own misinterpretations of the extispicia.)
    • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 1.585–586:
      at fēlīx vātēs, ut dīs grātissima vīxit,
      possidet hunc Iānī sīc dea mēnsē diem.
      But the fortunate prophetess, since her life was most pleasing to the gods,
      thus as a goddess has a day in this month of Janus.
      (The prophetess who became honored as a goddess is Carmenta).
  2. poet, poetess, bard
    Synonym: poēta
  3. oracle

Declension

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Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative vātēs vātēs
Genitive vātis vātum
vātium
Dative vātī vātibus
Accusative vātem vātēs
vātīs
Ablative vāte vātibus
Vocative vātēs vātēs

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Catalan: vat
  • English: vates
  • French: vate
  • Italian: vate
  • Portuguese: vate
  • Spanish: vate

References

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  • vates”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • vates”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • vates in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • vates in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

Latvian

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Noun

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vates f

  1. genitive singular of vate

Spanish

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Noun

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vates m pl

  1. plural of vate

Volapük

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Noun

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vates

  1. dative plural of vat