flamen

See also: Flamen

English

Alternative forms

• flamin (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfleɪmən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪmən
• Homophone: flehmen

Noun

flamen (plural flamens or flamines)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome) A priest devoted to the service of a particular god, from whom he received a distinguishing epithet. The most honored were those of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, called respectively Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis, and Flamen Quirinalis.

Derived terms

• archflamen
• flamenship
• flaminical

Translations

Latin priest

• French: flamine (fr) m, flaminique (fr) f
• Italian: flamine (it) m, flamen (it) m
• Punic: 𐤆𐤁𐤇 m (zbḥ)
• Sicilian: flamen m

Latin

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Italic *flāmen or *flādmen (“sacrificial act?”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₂-mn̥ or *bʰleh₂-d-mn̥, from a root *bʰleh₂- with or without an extension *-d-. (For the change of *-dm- to -m-, compare caementum.) A possible cognate in this case is Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐍉𐍄𐌰𐌽 (blōtan, “to honour”); see Proto-Germanic *blōtą. Alternatively, from Proto-Italic *flagsmen (“burnt offering?”), from pre-Latin *bʰl̥gsmn̥, from the root *bʰelg- (“to shine, burn”), which would make it cognate to flagrō (“to burn, blaze”) and flamma (“flame”). Traditionally connected to Sanskrit ब्रह्मन् (bráhman): however, this etymology is now largely rejected.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfɫaː.mɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈflaː.men]

Noun

flāmen m (genitive flāminis, feminine flāmina); third declension

2. priest, flamen

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	flāmen	flāminēs
genitive	flāminis	flāminum
dative	flāminī	flāminibus
accusative	flāminem	flāminēs
ablative	flāmine	flāminibus
vocative	flāmen	flāminēs

Derived terms

• flāminātus
• flāminius
• flāminica

Descendants

• → English: flamen
• → French: flamine
• → Italian: flamine
• → Portuguese: flâmine

Etymology 2

From flō (“to breathe, blow”) +‎ -men (noun-forming suffix).

Noun

flāmen n (genitive flāminis); third declension

2. blast, gust (of wind)
3. breeze

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	flāmen	flāmina
genitive	flāminis	flāminum
dative	flāminī	flāminibus
accusative	flāmen	flāmina
ablative	flāmine	flāminibus
vocative	flāmen	flāmina

Further reading

• “flamen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “flamen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “flamen”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “flamen”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “flamen”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin