caelum

See also: Caelum

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkae̯.lum/, [ˈkae̯.ɫʊ̃]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛ.lum/, [ˈt͡ʃɛː.lum]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Etymology 1

caelum (sky)

From Proto-Italic *kailom (cognate of Oscan 𐌊𐌀𐌝𐌋𐌀 (kaíla, “kind of building”)), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂i-lom (“whole”), from *keh₂i-.

Alternative forms

• cælum (Medieval)
• cael (Old Latin, an apocope, found only in a surviving fragment of Ennius’ Annales)
• caelus (Old Latin, and rarely in Classical and Late Latin)
• coelum, cœlum

Noun

caelum n (genitive caelī); second declension

1. (vault of) heaven
   • 405, Jerome and others, Vulgate, Genesis 28:12

     viditque in somnis scalam stantem super terram et cacumen illius tangens caelum

     And he saw in his dream a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven

2. sky
   • Horace, Epistles I.xi.27 [1] (translation Eugene Ehrlich, Say It in Latin, →ISBN

     Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.

     Those who cross the sea change the sky not their spirits.

3. atmosphere, climate, weather

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter or otherwise).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	caelum	caelī
Genitive	caelī	caelōrum
Dative	caelō	caelīs
Accusative	caelum	caelōs
Ablative	caelō	caelīs
Vocative	caelum	caelī

The plural is masculine.

Derived terms

• caeles
• caelestīnus
• caelestis
• caelicola
• caelicus

• caelifer
• caelifluus
• caeligenus
• caeliger
• caeliloquus

• caelipotēns
• caelitēs
• caelitus
• caeruleus

Descendants

• Eastern Romance
  • Aromanian: tser, tseru
  • Istro-Romanian: ţer
  • Megleno-Romanian: ţer, tser
  • Romanian: cer
• Franco-Provençal: cièl, ceu
• Gallo-Italic
  • Lombard: ciel
• Italo-Dalmatian
  • Corsican: celu
  • Dalmatian: cil, sil
  • Istriot: sìil
  • Italian: cielo
  • Neapolitan: cielo, cielu
  • Sicilian: celu
• Old French: ciel, cel
  • Bourguignon: cier
  • French: ciel
    • Haitian Creole: syèl
    • → English: ceil
  • Norman: ciel, cyil, cyi, syel
  • Walloon: cir
• Old Occitan: cel
  • Catalan: cel
  • Occitan: cèl, ciau, ciel, cèu
• Rhaeto-Romance
  • Friulian: cîl
  • Ladin: ciël
  • Romansch: tschiel, tschêl
• Sardinian: chelu
• Venetian: cielo, cel
• Western Iberian
  • Extremaduran: cielu
  • Navarro-Aragonese: [Term?]
    • Aragonese: zielo
  • Old Leonese: *cielo
    • Asturian: cielu
    • Leonese: ceu, cielu
    • Mirandese: cielo
  • Old Portuguese: ceo
    • Fala: ceu
    • Galician: ceo
    • Portuguese: céu (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish: cielo, çielo
    • Ladino: sielo
    • Spanish: cielo
      • → Hiligaynon: sielo
      • → Papiamentu: shelu
• → Albanian: qiell (possibly)
• → Basque: zeru

Etymology 2

From Proto-Italic *kaid(s)lom, from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- (“cut, hew”) (whence also caedō (“I cut”)).

Alternative forms

• cēlum (post-classical)
• coelum

Noun

caelum n (genitive caelī); second declension

1. chisel

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	caelum	caela
Genitive	caelī	caelōrum
Dative	caelō	caelīs
Accusative	caelum	caela
Ablative	caelō	caelīs
Vocative	caelum	caela

Related terms

• caedēs
• caedō
• caeduus
• caelāmen
• caelātor

• caelātūra
• caelō
• caesa
• caesim
• caesiō

• caesor
• caespes
• caesum
• caesūra
• caesus

Descendants

• → English: Caelum

References

• ¹caelum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ²caelum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• caelum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• 1 caelum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• 2 caelum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to raise the eyes to heaven; to look up to the sky: suspicere (in) caelum
    
  • to raise the eyes to heaven; to look up to the sky: oculos tollere, attollere ad caelum
    
  • climate: caelum or natura caeli
    
  • healthy climate: caelum salūbre, salubritas caeli (opp. grave, gravitas)
    
  • temperate climate: caeli temperatio
    
  • rough climate: caeli asperitas
    
  • variable climate: caeli varietas
    
  • the star-lit sky; the firmament: caelum astris distinctum et ornatum
    
  • the pole: vertex caeli, axis caeli, cardo caeli
    
  • a storm accompanied by heavy claps of thunder: tempestas cum magno fragore (caeli) tonitribusque (Liv. 1. 16)
    
  • the heavens are shaken by the thunder: caelum tonitru contremit
    
  • to extol, laud to the skies: laudibus aliquem (aliquid) in caelum ferre, efferre, tollere
    
  • to raise the hands to heaven (attitude of prayer): (supinas) manus ad caelum tendere
    
  • (ambiguous) to run its course in the sky: cursum conficere in caelo
    
  • (ambiguous) to be struck by lightning: de caelo tangi, percuti
    
  • (ambiguous) when it is growing dusk; towards evening: die, caelo vesperascente
    
  • (ambiguous) to observe the sky (i.e. the flight of birds, lightning, thunder, etc.: de caelo servare (Att. 4. 3. 3)
    
• caelum in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• caelum in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin