noun · femininethird declension
classis
classis f (genitive classis)
Classical[ˈkɫas.sɪs]Ecclesiastical[ˈklas.sis]
№ 505 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary
Meaning
- feminineany one of the five divisions into which Servius Tullius divided the Roman citizenry
- femininethe armed forces
- femininefleet
quae fortūna virīs, classem quō lītore linquant, quid veniant [...]
What [has] fortune [granted] to the men? On which shore did they moor the fleet? Why are they coming here? (Aeneas and Achates ponder a series of indirect questions.)29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 1.517–518 - femininea group, rank, or class
- femininea class (of students)
- New Latinfeminineclass (taxonomic rank)
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
multae nāvēs bellī ūnā; classis Rōmāna maria custōdit.classis -is f — in Mille Verba, Mare et Nāvēs
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | classis | classēs |
| genitive | classis | classium |
| dative | classī | classibus |
| accusative | classem | classēs classīs |
| ablative | classe classī | classibus |
| vocative | classis | classēs |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- pecuniam erogare (in classem)
- to spend money.
- classes concurrunt (Liv. 26. 39)
- the fleets charge.
- navem, classem deprimere, mergere
- to sink a ship, a fleet.
- naves (classem) constituere (in alto)
- to make fast boats to anchors.
- navem (classem) armare, ornare, instruere
- to equip a boat, a fleet.
- navem, classem aedificare, facere, efficere, instituere
- to build a ship, a fleet.
classis (old orthog. CLASIS, Column. Rostr.; v. under I. B. 2.), is (
I. acc. sing. usu. classem; classim, Auct. B. Afr. 9, 2; abl. usu. classe;
classi, Verg. A. 8, 11; Liv. 23, 41, 8; Vell. 2, 79), f. root cal-, cla-, of clamo, καλέω; prop. the people as assembled or called together, hence, I. After the division of the Roman people by Servius Tullius into six (or, the citizens who paid tribute alone being reckoned, into five) classes,
1. A class, Liv. 1, 42, 5; 1, 43, 2 sq.; Cic. Rep. 2, 22, 39 sq.; Gell. 6 ($3), 13, 1 sq.; Cic. Fl. 7, 15; Liv. 1, 42, 5; 1, 43, 1 sqq.; Plin. 33, 3, 13, § 43; cf. Dion. Halic. 4, 16 sq.;
7, 59: prima classis vocatur... tum secunda classis, etc., Cic. Phil. 2, 33, 82: infra classem; v. classicus, I.—2. Trop.:
qui (philosophi) mihi cum illo collati, quintae classis videntur, i.e. of the lowest rank, Cic. Ac. 2, 23, 73; cf. classicus, I. B.—Hence, B. In milit. lang., the whole body of the citizens called to arms, an army. 1 Of the land army (mostly very ancient): procincta, Lex Numae in Fest. s. v. opima, p. 189, 13 Müll.: classis procincta [id est exercitus armatus, Gloss.], Fab. Pictor. ap. Gell. 10, 15, 4; cf. Gell. 1, 11, 3; Paul. ex Fest. p. 56, 3:
classi quoque ad Fidenas pugnatum cum Vejentibus quidam in annales rettulere, Liv. 4, 34, 6 Weissenb. ad loc.: Hortinae classes populique Latini, Verg. A. 7, 716 Serv.—2. Of men at sea, the fleet, including the troops in it (the usu. signif. in prose and poetry):
CLASESQVE. NAVALES. PRIMOS. ORNAVET.... CLASEIS. POENICAS...., Column. Rostr., v. 7 sq.: nomina in classem dare, Liv. 28, 45, 19: cetera classis... fugerunt, id. 35, 26, 9: ut classem duceret in Ligurum oram, id. 40, 26, 8; 41, 24, 13; cf. id. 42, 48, 10: navium classis, id. 22, 37, 13: posteaquam maximas aedificasset ornassetque classes, Cic. Imp. Pomp. 4, 9: classem instruere atque ornare, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 51, § 135: classis ornandae reficiendaeque causā, Liv 9, 30, 4: comparare, Cic. Fl. 14, 33: facere, Caes. B. C. 3, 42 al.: classe navigare, by ship, Cic. Fl. 14, 32; cf. Verg. A. 1, 379; 8, 11; Hor.C. 3, 11, 48: classes = naves, Verg. A. 2, 30: geminasque legit de classe biremis, id. ib. 8, 79: omittere, id. ib. 5, 794: armare, id. ib. 4, 299: deducere, id. G. 1, 255: efficere, Nep. Them. 2, 3: (Suiones) praeter viros armaque classibus valent, Tac. G. 44. —II. In the post-Aug. per., sometimes, a class, division, in gen.:
pueros in classes distribuerant, Quint. 1, 2, 23; so id. 1, 2, 24; 10, 5, 21; Suet. Tib. 46: operarum, Col. 1, 9, 7: servorum, Petr. 74, 7.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
classis is (abl. e; rarely ī), f
1 CAL-, a class, great division (of the people, formed, according to property, by Servius Tullius), L.: prima classis vocatur ... tum secunda classis, etc.—Fig.: quintae classis videri, i. e. of the lowest rank.—The citizens under arms, an army: Hortinae classes (i. e. copiae), V.—A fleet: nomina in classem dare, L.: maximas aedificare classes: classis ornandae causā, L.: facere, Cs.: classe navigare, by ship: penatīs Classe veho mecum, V.: classibus valent, Ta.
Origins
From Proto-Italic *klāssis, from Proto-Indo-European *klh₁-d⁽ʰ⁾-ti- (“a call”), from *kelh₁- (“to call, shout”). Cognate with Latin calō, clāmō, clārus, concilium, Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō). De Vaan notes that simplification of the Proto-Italic *-ss- would be expected following long *-ā-. He suggests that, semantically, the term evolved from referring to a “calling out” to a “class of soldiers being called out” to a “social class.”
Elsewhere
- Catalanclasse
- Englishclassis
- GermanClassis
- Italianclasse
- Frenchclassefrom Middle French classe
- Englishclassfrom Middle French classe
- Portugueseclasse
- Englishclasfrom Proto-Brythonic *klas
- Romanianclasă
- Spanishclase
Italo-Romance
- Italianchiasso
Old Irish
- Irishclas
- Scottish Gaelicclas