LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininethird declension

maiestās

maiestās f (genitive maiestātis)
Classical[majˈjɛs.taːs]Ecclesiastical[maˈjɛs.tas]

Meaning

  1. majesty, greatness, grandeur, prestige
  2. dignity, honor, splendor
  3. sovereignty
  4. abbreviationellipsisellipsis of crīmen maiestātis or lēx maiestātis (“treason, high treason, lèse majesté”)

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

honor summus rēgis aut deī
māiestās -ātis (f) — in Metamorphoses I, ch. 6

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativemaiestāsmaiestātēs
genitivemaiestātismaiestātum
dativemaiestātīmaiestātibus
accusativemaiestātemmaiestātēs
ablativemaiestātemaiestātibus
vocativemaiestāsmaiestātēs

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

accusare aliquem maiestatis
to accuse a person of high treason (more specific than the preceding).

mājestas, ātis, f. major, magnus, q. v.,
I. greatness, grandeur, dignity, majesty.
I. Lit., of the gods; also the condition of men in high station, as kings, consuls, senators, knights, etc., and, in republican states, esp. freq. of the people (class.).
1. Of the gods: di non censent esse suae majestatis, praesignificare hominibus, quae sunt futura, Cic. Div. 1, 38, 82 sq.: primus est deorum cultus deos credere, deinde reddere illis majestatem suam, Sen. Ep. 95, 50: divinam majestatem asserere sibi coepit, divine majesty, Suet. Calig. 22.—
2. Of men: consulis, Cic. Pis. 11, 24: judicum, id. Rosc. Am. 19, 54: regia, Caes. B. C. 3, 106: ducis, Phaedr. 2, 5, 23: senatus, Liv. 8, 34: patria, the paternal authority, id. 8, 7, 3: inter nos sanctissima divitiarum majestas, Juv. 1, 113.—The sovereign power, sovereignty of the Roman people: majestatem populi Romani defendere, Cic. Phil. 3, 5, 13: per majestatem populi Romani subvenite misero mihi, Sall. J. 14, 25: ad tantam magnitudinem Romana majestas cunctorum numinum favore pervenit, Mos. et Rom. Leg. Coll. 6, 4, 6: majestatem minuere or laedere, to injure or offend against the majesty, sovereignty of the people: majestatem minuere est de dignitate, aut amplitudine, aut potestate populi, aut eorum, quibus populus potestatem dedit, aliquid derogare, Cic. Inv. 2, 17, 53; Tac. A. 1, 72: populi Romani majestatem laedere, Sen. Contr. 4, 25, 13; Amm. 16, 8, 4; 19, 12, 1; 21, 12, 19 al.: crimen majestatis, high-treason; an offence against the majesty, sovereignty of the people: et crimen majestatis, quod imperii nostri gloriae, rerumque gestarum monumenta evertere atque asportare ausus est, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 41, § 88: legionem sollicitare, res est, quae lege majestatis tenetur, against treason, id. Clu. 35, 97: condemnatus majestatis, id. ib.: laesae majestatis accusari, Sen. Contr. 4, 25: majestatis causā damnatus, Dig. 48, 24, 1: majestatis judicium, ib. 2, 20: Lege Julia majestatis tenetur is, cujus ope, consilio adversus imperatorem vel rem publicam arma mota sunt, exercitusve ejus in insidias deductus est, Paul. Sent. 5, 29, 1.—As a title of honor of the Roman emperors, majesty, Phaedr. 2, 5, 23; Symm. Ep. 19, 16 et saep.—
II. Transf., in gen., honor, dignity, excellence, splendor: majestas et pudor matronarum, Liv. 34, 2: rex apum nullum habeat aculeum, majestate solā armatus, Plin. 11, 17, 17, § 52: boum, i. e. fine condition, appearance, Varr R. R. 2, 5: ipsa dierum Festorum herboso colitur si quando theatro, Juv. 3, 173: templorum, id. 11, 111: Tyria majestas, the splendor of Tyrian purple, Claud. Laud. Stil. 1, 79: quanta illi fuit gravitas! quanta in oratione majestas! Cic. Lael. 25, 96: loci, i. e. Jovis templi, Liv. 1, 53.

Origins

From Proto Italic *magjes, a variant of *magjōs + *-tāts; perhaps influenced by honestās. By surface analysis, maior + -tās. Sense 3.2. refers to the majesty, sovereignty of the populus Rōmānus, the Roman people.

Elsewhere
  • Frenchmajesté
  • Italianmaestà
  • Portuguesemajestade
  • Romanianmaiestate
  • Spanishmajestad
  • Englishmajesty
  • GermanMajestät
  • Turkishmajestefrom French majesté
  • Galicianmaxestade
  • Old Frenchmaesté
Serbo-Croatian
  • Cyrillic scriptмајестѐтичан
  • Latin scriptmajestètičan

In English words that came into English from maiestās

  • majestymaiestās

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

AntiquitiesMajestasMajestas The only term for treason in early Roman law was perduellio, a word made up of per, para = very, and duellum, war (Charisius, 2.14, 159). Per…

Quick answers

What does maiestās mean in Latin?
maiestās, a noun, means “majesty, greatness, grandeur, prestige; dignity, honor, splendor”.
What is the genitive of maiestās?
The genitive singular is maiestātis. maiestās is feminine, third declension.
How do you pronounce maiestās?
In classical Latin, [majˈjɛs.taːs]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [maˈjɛs.tas].