LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininefirst declension

cella

cella f (genitive cellae)
Classical[ˈkɛl.la]Ecclesiastical[ˈt͡ʃɛl.la]
Mille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. femininea small room, a hut, storeroom
  2. femininea barn, granary
  3. femininethe part of a temple where the image of a god stood; altar, sanctuary, shrine, pantry

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

parva pars domūs, ubi rēs servāmus; cella vīnī.
cella -ae f — in Mille Verba, Domus et Familia

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativecellacellae
genitivecellaecellārum
dativecellaecellīs
accusativecellamcellās
ablativecellācellīs
vocativecellacellae

cella, ae, f. cf. celo, oc-cul-o, clam, v. Varr. L. L. 5, 33, 45; Fest. p. 50,
I. a storeroom, chamber.
I. In agricult. lang., a place for depositing grain or fruits, or for the abode of animals, a granary, stall, etc.: olearia, vinaria, penaria, etc., Cato, R. R. 3, 2; Varr. R. R. 1, 11, 2; Col. 1, 6, 9; 12, 18, 3; Cic. Sen. 16, 56; Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 2, § 5; 2, 3, 87, § 200 sq. al.; cf. id. Pis. 27, 67; Verg. G. 2, 96; Hor. C. 1, 37, 6; id. S. 2, 8, 46; Vitr. 6, 9: columbarum, dovecotes, Col. 8, 8, 3: anserum, id. 8, 14, 9.— Also of the cells of bees, Verg. G. 4, 164; id. A. 1, 433; Plin. 11, 11, 10, § 26.—Hence, dare, emere, imperare aliquid in cellam, to furnish, purchase, procure the things necessary for a house, for the kitchen, Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 87, § 201 sq.; id. Div. in Caecil. 10, 30. —Facetiously: cella promptuaria = carcer, Plaut. Am. 1, 1, 4; cf. id. ib. 1, 1, 3: reliqui in ventre cellae uni locum, Plaut. Curc. 3, 17.-
II. Transf., of the small, simple dwelling apartments of men, a chamber, closet, cabinet, hut, cot, etc., Ter. Ad. 4, 2, 13; esp. of servants, Cato, R. R. 14: ostiarii, the porter's lodge, Vitr. 6, 10; Petr. 29, 1; 77, 4; and of slaves, Cic. Phil. 2, 27, 67; Hor. S. 1, 8, 8 al.—Of a poor man's garret, Mart. 7, 20, 21; 8, 14, 5: cella pauperis, a chamber for self-denial, etc., Sen. Ep. 18, 7; 100, 6; cf. Mart. 3, 48.—
B. The part of a temple in which the image of a god stood, the chapel, Vitr. 3, 1; 4, 1; Cic. Phil. 3, 12, 30; Liv. 5, 50, 6; 6, 29, 9 al.—
C. An apartment in a bathing-house, Plin. Ep. 2, 17, 11; Pall. 1, 40, 4; Veg. 2, 6, 3.—
D. A room in a brothel, Petr. 8, 4; Juv. 6, 122; 6, 128: inscripta, Mart. 11, 45, 1.

Origins

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”), although the specific formation is uncertain. De Vaan posits as possible Proto-Italic forms *kēli- and *kēlā-. He suggests that the latter may have yielded cella by the Latin littera rule, whereby a long vowel followed by a single consonant was replaced by a short vowel followed by a geminate consonant. He also considers a diminutive formation *kēl-elā- > *kellā-, or, if formed directly from *ḱel-, *kel-ilā; other possible preforms are *kel-nā-, *kel-sā-, and *kel-dā-. Cognates within Latin include clam, color, cēlō; within Italic, Faliscan 𐌂𐌄𐌋𐌀 (cela), Oscan kellaked (“he has stored”); outside Italic, Proto-Germanic *helaną (“to hide, conceal”), Sanskrit शाला (śā́lā, “large tent, building”).

Elsewhere
  • Catalancel·la
  • Englishcell
  • Italiancella
  • Portuguesecelafrom Old Galician-Portuguese cela
  • Spanishcela
  • Spanishcelda
  • Spanishcilla
  • GermanZellefrom Old High German zella
  • GermanCellefrom Old High German zella
  • Albanianqelizë
Aramaic
  • Classical Syriacܩܠܐ

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

AntiquitiesCellaCella 1. In its primary sense, cella means a store-room (Ubi quid conditum esse volebant, a celando cellam appellarunt, Varro, L. L. 5.162), of which …

Quick answers

What does cella mean in Latin?
cella, a noun, means “a small room, a hut, storeroom; a barn, granary; the part of a temple where the image of a god stood”.
What is the genitive of cella?
The genitive singular is cellae. cella is feminine, first declension.
How do you pronounce cella?
In classical Latin, [ˈkɛl.la]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈt͡ʃɛl.la].