noun · femininethird declension
fēlēs
fēlēs f (genitive fēlis)
Classical[ˈfeː.ɫeːs]Ecclesiastical[ˈfɛː.les]
Meaning
- cat
Quorum inbutae mentes pravitatis erroribus quamvis carnificinam prius subierint quam ibim aut aspidem aut faelem aut canem aut corcodillum violenti quorum etiamsi inprudentes quippiam fecerint, poenam nullam recusent.
Their minds being tainted by pernicious opinions, they are ready to bear any torture rather than hurt an ibis, a snake, a cat, a dog, or a crocodile; and should any one inadvertently have hurt any of these animals, he will submit to any punishment.c. 45 BCE, Cicero, Tusculanae disputationes 5.27Ut feles quoties fugitat, male pedere sueta est.
Whenever the cat runs away, she is accustomed to fart badly.1528, Desiderius Erasmus, Adagiorum opus, page 773:
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | fēlēs | fēlēs |
| genitive | fēlis | fēlium |
| dative | fēlī | fēlibus |
| accusative | fēlem | fēlēs fēlīs |
| ablative | fēle | fēlibus |
| vocative | fēlēs | fēlēs |
fēles, is (in Varr. and Cic. faelis in best MSS.; nom. felis, Plaut. Rud. 3, 4, 43; Plin. 6, 29, 35, § 178), f. root fe-, v. felix; prop., she that bears young,
I. a cat:
Aegyptii quamvis carnificinam prius subierint, quam aut faelem aut canem aut crocodilum violent, Cic. Tusc. 5, 27, 78; id. N. D. 1, 29, 82; id. Leg. 1, 11, 32; Phaedr. 2, 4, 2; Plin. 10, 73, 94, § 202; 11, 37, 65, § 172; Ov. M. 5, 330 al.—B. Transf., a marten, ferret, polecat, Varr. R. R. 3, 11, 3; Col. 8, 14, 9.—
II. Trop., one who inveigles, a mouser, seducer (very rare):
feles virginalis, girl - thief, Plaut. Rud. 3, 4, 43: feles virginaria, id. Pers. 4, 9, 14: pullaria, Aus. Epigr. 70.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
fēlēs or faelēs is, f
FEV-, a cat : faelem violare: Fele soror Phoebi latuit, O.
Origins
Unknown; maybe cognate with Welsh bele (“marten”). Other sources say that it is related to Latin fulica, fulix, with the etymological meaning of "animal with a shiny coat", but this theory is doubtful. The connection with Latin fēlix (“happy”) and Latin fēllō (“to suck”), with the (hypothetical) etymological meaning of “animal that sucks the blood [of its prey]”, was also proposed. This word could be cognate with Latin mēlēs (“badger”), under the assumption of a very unusual alternation of /f/ (or earlier */β/) and /m/, which might be an indication of substrate origin.