aclys

Latin

FWOTD – 21 March 2016

Alternative forms

• āclis

Etymology

First attested in Virgil’s Aeneid, taken from the Ancient Greek ἀγκῠλῐ́ς (ankulís, “hook”, “barb”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈaː.klys/, [ˈäːklʲʏs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.klis/, [ˈäːklis]

Noun

āclys f (genitive āclydis); third declension

1. a small javelin attached to a strap
   • 29–19 BC, P. Vergilius Maro (aut.), J.B. Greenough (ed.), Aeneis in The Bucolics, Æneid, and Georgics of Virgil (1900), bk vii, ll. 730f.:

     Teretes sunt aclydes illis
     tela, sed haec lento mos est aptare flagello.

     Their arms are tapered javelins, which they wear bound by a coiling thong. ― tr.: T.C. Williams, The Æneid of Virgil translated into English verse (1908), bk vii, p. 253

   • c. AD 83–96, Ti. Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (aut.), J.D. Duff (ed.), Punica I (1927), bk iii, ll. 362f (p. 140):

     Iamque Ebusus Phoenissa movet, movet Arbacus arma,
     aclyde vel tenui pugnax instare veruto.

     Now Phoenician Ebusus rises in arms; and the Arbacians, fierce fighters with the dart or slender javelin. ― tr.: ibidem, p. 141

   • c. AD 205–220, Nonius Marcellus (aut.), W.M. Lindsay (ed.), De Conpendiosa Doctrina libri XX (1903), vol. III, bk xix, 554 M., l. 3 (p. 889):

     Aclydes, iacula brevia.

     Aclydes [are] short javelins.

   • 1531, Franciscus Bonadus, Eximii prophetarum antiſtitis regia Dauidis oracula, p. 116:

     Cur modo præcipites Aclydas ſeponis ab arcu?

     Why do you now lay the swift javelins apart from the bow?

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:aclys.

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant or non-Greek-type).

	singular	plural
nominative	āclys	āclydes āclydēs
genitive	āclydis	āclydum
dative	āclydī	āclydibus
accusative	āclyda āclydem	āclydas āclydēs
ablative	āclyde	āclydibus
vocative	āclys	āclydes āclydēs

Related terms

• ancylista (New Latin)

References

• “aclys”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “āclys (āclis)”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• āclys in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 23/2.
• “aclys”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• “aclys” on page 28/3 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)