Bellovaci

English

Noun

Bellovaci pl (plural only)

1. (historical) A Belgic tribe inhabiting the modern Picardy region, near the present-day city of Beauvais, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Latin

Etymology

Gaulish/Celtic name, possibly from Proto-Celtic *bellos (“speak, roar”) (<< Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-) + *wakos (“curved(?), empty”), which is related to *wāstos and the second element of Segovax.

Or, possibly a Roman exonym from bellum (“war”) + vacuus (“empty”), though this is unattested.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /belˈlo.u̯a.kiː/, [bɛlˈlʲou̯äkiː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /belˈlo.va.t͡ʃi/, [belˈlɔːvät͡ʃi]

Proper noun

Bellovacī m pl (genitive Bellovacōrum); second declension

1. A tribe of Gallia Belgica, whose capital was Caesaromagus

Declension

Second-declension noun, plural only.

Case	Plural
Nominative	Bellovacī
Genitive	Bellovacōrum
Dative	Bellovacīs
Accusative	Bellovacōs
Ablative	Bellovacīs
Vocative	Bellovacī

References

• “Bellovaci”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Bellovaci in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “Bellovaci”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• Celtic Culture: A-Celti (2006)