caelestis

Latin

Alternative forms

• coelestis
• cælestis, cœlestis

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂i-lom

Proto-Italic *kailom?

Latin caelum

Latin terrestris

Latin -estris

Latin caelestis

From caelum (“heaven, sky”) +‎ -estris, possibly influenced by the dissimilated agrestis in a coordinated phrase like dī agrestēs caelestēsque.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kae̯ˈɫɛs.tɪs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃeˈlɛs.tis]

Adjective

caelestis (neuter caeleste, comparative caelestior, superlative caelestissimus); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. celestial, of or in the heavens, heavenly
2. (figuratively) divine, of the gods
3. (figuratively) magnificent, preeminent, god-like

   Synonyms: caeles, caelestīnus

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	caelestis		caeleste		caelestēs		caelestia
genitive	caelestis	caelestis caelestae	caelestis		caelestium caelestum
dative	caelestī				caelestibus
accusative	caelestem		caeleste		caelestīs caelestēs		caelestia
ablative	caelestī caeleste		caelestī		caelestibus
vocative	caelestis		caeleste		caelestēs		caelestia

Derived terms

• caelestia
• caelestiālis
• intercaelestis
• succaelestis
• supercaelestis

Related terms

• caeles
• caelestīnus
• Caelestis (“Tanit”)
• caelicola
• caelicus
• caelifer
• caelifluus
• caeligenus
• caeliger
• caeliloquus
• caelipotēns
• caelitēs
• caelitus
• caelum

Descendants

• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • >? Corsican: celestu, celeste, cilestu
  • Dalmatian: zelést
  • >? Istriot: cialieste
  • Italian: cilestro
• Ibero-Romance:
  • >? Galician: xistra

Borrowings:

• → Catalan: celeste (learned), ⇒ celístia (semi-learned)
• → Galician: celeste (learned)
• → Gallurese: cilesti (learned)
• →? Italian: celeste (semi-learned/latinized?)
• → Ligurian: celeste (learned)
• → Old French: celeste (learned)
  • Middle French: celeste
    • French: céleste
      • → English: celeste (learned)
      • → Romanian: celest (learned)
• → Old Galician-Portuguese: celeste (learned)
  • Portuguese: celeste
• Sardinian:
  • → Logudorese: tzeleste, cheleste (learned)
  • → Nuorese: tzeleste (learned)
  • → Campidanese: celesti (learned)
• → Spanish: celeste (learned)
• → Swedish: celest (learned)
• → Venetan: celeste, zheleste

Noun

caelestis m or f (genitive caelestis); third declension

1. (usually in the plural) a deity

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	caelestis	caelestēs
genitive	caelestis	caelestium caelestum
dative	caelestī	caelestibus
accusative	caelestem	caelestēs caelestīs
ablative	caeleste	caelestibus
vocative	caelestis	caelestēs

Further reading

• “caelestis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “caelestis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “caelestis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 238, column 3.
• caelestis in Georges, Karl Ernst; Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, columns 900–901
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (1) the heavenly bodies, (2) celestial phenomena: caelestia
    
  • astronomy: astrologia (pure Latin sidera, caelestia)
    
  • an astronomer: spectator siderum, rerum caelestium or astrologus
    
  • heavenly things; earthly things: supera et caelestia; humana et citerioria
    
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “caelum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 80-81