cephenes

See also: Cephenes

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κηφῆνες (kēphênes).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /keːˈpʰeː.nes/, [keːˈpʰeːnɛs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃeˈfe.nes/, [t͡ʃeˈfɛːnes]

Noun

cēphēnes m pl (genitive cēphēnum); third declension

1. the drones in a swarm of bees
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 11:

     Cetera turba cum formam capere coepit, nymphae vocantur, ut fuci sirenes aut cephenes.

     They begin to take the form of the crowd with the other things, called pupae, such as sirens or drones.

Declension

Third-declension noun, plural only.

Case	Plural
Nominative	cēphēnes
Genitive	cēphēnum
Dative	cēphēnibus
Accusative	cēphēnes
Ablative	cēphēnibus
Vocative	cēphēnes

Synonyms

• fūcī (pure Latin)

References

• “cēphēnes”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press