adverb
ceu
ceu (not comparable)
Classical[ˈkɛu̯]Ecclesiastical[ˈt͡ʃɛːu̯]
Meaning
- not comparableas, like, just as
Dīxerat et tenuīs fūgit ceu fūmus in aurās.
Translation by John Conington Like thinnest smoke, and mixed with night;29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 5.740
ceu, adv. contr. from ce-ve, like neu and seu, from neve and sive, a particle of equality or comparison,
I. as, like as, just as (in the ante-Aug. per., peculiar to more elevated poetry;
later also in prose, in Seneca and Suet., and esp. freq. in Plin. H. N.): pars vertere terga, ceu quondam petiere rates, Verg. A. 6, 492: ceu talpae, Plin. 9, 6, 7, § 17: ceu notamus in muscis, id. 11, 48, 108, § 258; so id. 9, 37, 61, § 132; Suet. Vit. 17; Plin. 19, 12, 62, § 187.—II. In poet. comparisons (hence, haud aliter follows in a corresponding clause, Verg. A. 9, 797; 10, 360, or sic, id. ib. 10, 729), like, as, like as:
tenuis fugit ceu fumus in auras, Verg. A. 5, 740; so id. G. 3, 542; * Cat. 64, 239: Hecuba et natae... Praecipites atrā ceu tempestate columbae,... sedebant, Verg. A. 2, 516; * Hor. C. 4, 4, 43: ceu nubibus arcus Mille jacit varios adverso sole colores, Verg. A. 5, 88; so id. ib. 5, 527.—b. With cum, as when, Verg. G. 1, 303: 4, 96; id. A. 7, 673; 9, 30; 9, 792; 10, 97; Sen. Q. N. 6, 24, 4.—
c. With si (twice in Lucr.), Lucr. 4, 620; 6, 161.—
B. Sometimes in a conditional sense, as if, as it were, like as if, etc., Enn. ap. Non. p. 483, 2:
Thesea ceu pulsae ventorum flamine nubes Aërium nivei montis liquere cacumen, Cat. 64, 239: per aperta volans, ceu liber habenis, Aequora, Verg. G. 3, 194; Plin. 2, 28, 28, § 98; 9, 37, 61, § 132; 34, 18, 54, § 175; Suet. Tib. 52; Stat. Th. 1, 320.— Hence, with a subj.: ceu cetera nusquam Bella forent, Verg. A. 2, 438; Sil. 2, 378; Stat. S. 3, 1, 6; id. Th. 2, 417; Plin. 16, 10, 18. § 41; 31, 1, 1, § 2; 34, 6, 13, § 28 al.—C. In the Nat. Hist. of Pliny sometimes ceu vero = quasi vero, in refuting another's opinion, as if, just as if: ceu vero nesciam adversus Theophrastum scripsisse etiam feminam, Plin. praef. § 29; 7, 55, 56, § 188; 11, 39, 92, § 226; 12, 1, 5, § 11 al.; cf. upon this word, Hand, Turs. II. pp. 45-49.
Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
ceu adv.
ce + ve, as, like as, just as: genus omne natantum, ceu naufraga corpora, fluctus Proluit, like, V.: Dirus per urbes Afer Ceu flamma per taedas, etc., H.: ceu nubibus arcus iacit colores, V. — Followed by haud aliter, V.; by sic, V.: aliae turpes horrent, ceu Cum venit viator, as when, V.: lupi ceu raptores, V.: pars vertere terga, Ceu quondam petiere rates, just as, V.—As if, as it were, just as if: per aperta volans, ceu liber habenis, Aequora, V.: ceu cetera nusquam Bella forent, V.
Origins
Apocope of ce- + -ve (an earlier form *ceve, as in neu - neve and seu - sive, is unattested), ultimately from Proto-Italic *keiwe, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe- + *-we.