sacer vates

English edit

From Latin sacer vātēs (“sacred poet”).

sacer vates (plural sacer vates)

A divine or sacred poet, or a poet regarded as such.
- 1970, Michael Hamburger, Contraries: Studies in German Literature:
  To these attributes of the sacer vates we can add the religious radicalism that prevented both men from making a profession of their vocation.

From sacer (“holy, sacred”) + vātēs (“soothsayer, bard, poet”).

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.ker ˈu̯aː.teːs/, [ˈs̠äkɛr ˈu̯äːt̪eːs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.t͡ʃer ˈva.tes/, [ˈsäːt͡ʃer ˈväːt̪es]

sacer vātēs m or f (genitive sacrī vātis); third declension

a sacred poet or soothsayer.
- 16 B.C.E. — Ovid, Amores, Book III, section 9.
  Tene, sacer vates, flammae rapuere rogales
  pectoribus pasci nec timuere tuis?

Second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er) with a third-declension noun (i-stem).