cerastes

See also: Cerastes

English

Etymology

Ancient Greek κεράστης (kerástēs)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səˈɹæstiːz/

Noun

cerastes (plural cerastae)

1. (mythology) A very flexible horned serpent in Greek legend, said to have no spine and to hide its head in the sand awaiting prey.

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κεράστης (kerástēs).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /keˈras.teːs/, [kɛˈräs̠t̪eːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃeˈras.tes/, [t͡ʃeˈräst̪es]

Noun

cerastēs m (genitive cerastae); first declension

1. horned viper (of genus Cerastes)

Declension

First-declension noun (masculine Greek-type with nominative singular in -ēs).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cerastēs	cerastae
Genitive	cerastae	cerastārum
Dative	cerastae	cerastīs
Accusative	cerastēn	cerastās
Ablative	cerastē	cerastīs
Vocative	cerastē	cerastae

Descendants

• Italian: ceraste

References

• “cerastes”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cerastes”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cerastes in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• cerastes in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.