Latin

Noun

pelagus n ‎(genitive pelagī); second declension

1. the sea
   • Letter attributed to Pope Callixtus II:

     In pelagis multarum aquarum crebro cecidi, proximus morti, et evasit codex minime infectus, me exeunte.

   • 17th century, Aristotealoys problematon tmema to ie, p. 179:

     Quae tamen tolli potest, si dixerimus, comparata aqua in pelagis, id est in medio maris, sed in superficie, cum aqua in profundo medii maris, verissimus esse; [...]

2. (rare) the plain, especially in the Aeneid

Inflection

Second declension, nominative/accusative/vocative in -us.

• In general, pelagus is used only in the singular. Rarely, the nominative/accusative/vocative plural form pelagē occurs, borrowed from the Greek original. Likewise rare is the dative/ablative plural pelagīs.
• There is also accusative singular pelagum, which implies masculine gender.
• The Ancient Greek genitive plural is πελαγῶν ‎(pelagôn), while the Latin second declension genitive plural ends in -ōrum or contracted in -ûm (also spelled -um).

Synonyms

• mare

Related terms

• pelagia
• pelagicus
• pelagius

Descendants

• Italian: pelago
• Old Portuguese: peego
• Portuguese: pego, pélago
• Spanish: piélago

References

• pelagus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• pelagus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• PELAGUS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “pelagus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• pelagus in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia