classis

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin classis. Doublet of class.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklæsɪs/

Noun

classis (plural classes)

1. (obsolete) A class or order; sort; kind.
   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

     […] declared his own opinion of that classis of men.

2. (religion) An ecclesiastical body or judicatory in certain churches, such as the Dutch Reformed Church. It is intermediate between the consistory and the synod, and corresponds to the presbytery in the Presbyterian church.
   • 1982, Keith L. Sprunger, Dutch Puritanism:

     At Utrecht and Breda there was strong pressure from the Dutch Reformed Church to exclude from employment British preachers who refused to take membership in the classis.

3. (biology, taxonomy) A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below divisio and above ordo.

   Synonym: class

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “classis”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin classis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklɑ.sɪs/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: clas‧sis

Noun

classis f (plural classes)

1. (Protestantism) a supracongregational, regional executive body, intermediate in size or rank between the consistory of an individual congregation and a provincial synod.

Related terms

• klas
• klasse

Descendants

• → Indonesian: klasis

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *klāssis, from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, shout”). Cognate with Latin calō, clāmō, clārus, concilium, Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈklas.sis/, [ˈkɫ̪äs̠ːɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈklas.sis/, [ˈkläsːis]

Noun

classis f (genitive classis); third declension

1. any one of the five divisions into which Servius Tullius divided the Roman citizenry
2. the armed forces
3. fleet
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.517-518:

     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.)

4. a group, rank, or class

   Synonyms: ōrdō, gradus, sors

5. a class (of students)

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem, ablative singular in -e or occasionally -ī).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	classis	classēs
Genitive	classis	classium
Dative	classī	classibus
Accusative	classem	classēs classīs
Ablative	classe classī	classibus
Vocative	classis	classēs

Derived terms

• classicula
• classicum
• classicus
• classiārius

 

Descendants

• → Asturian: clas, clase
• → Bulgarian: класа (klasa)
• → Catalan: classe
• → Czech: klasa (archaic)
• → Danish: klasse
• → Dutch: classis
  • → Indonesian: klasis
• → English: classis
• → Galician: clase
• → German: Classis
• → Italian: classe
• → Macedonian: клас (klas), класа (klasa)
• → Middle French: classe
  • French: classe (see there for further descendants)
  • → English: class (see there for further descendants)
• → Norman: clâsse
• → Norwegian: klasse
• → Old Irish:
  • Irish: clas
  • Scottish Gaelic: clas
• → Portuguese: classe
• → Proto-Brythonic: *klas
  • Breton: klas
  • Middle Welsh: clas
    • Welsh: clas
      • → English: clas
• → Romanian: clasă
• → Spanish: clase
• → Swedish: klass
• → Ukrainian: клас (klas)
• → Venetian: clase
• → Yiddish: קלאַס‎ (klas)

References

• “classis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “classis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• classis 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)
• classis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to spend money: pecuniam erogare (in classem)
    
  • to build a ship, a fleet: navem, classem aedificare, facere, efficere, instituere
    
  • to equip a boat, a fleet: navem (classem) armare, ornare, instruere
    
  • to make fast boats to anchors: naves (classem) constituere (in alto)
    
  • to sink a ship, a fleet: navem, classem deprimere, mergere
    
  • the fleets charge: classes concurrunt (Liv. 26. 39)
    
• classis in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “classis”, in Richard Stillwell et al., editor (1976) The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press