English

Alternative forms

• Acœtes archaic

Proper noun

Acoetes

1. (mythology) One of several mythological characters.
   1. An attendant of Bacchus.
   2. The father of Laocoön.
   3. A Theban character in Statius’s Thebaid.

Translations

Latin

Alternative forms

• Acœtes

Etymology

Inherited from the Old Latin Acoetēs.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /aˈkoe̯.teːs/

Proper noun

Acoetēs m ‎(genitive Acoetae); first declension

1. (mythology) One of several mythological characters.
   1. An attendant of Bacchus.
      • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.582

        Ille metu vacuus ‘nomen mihi’ dixit ‘Acoetes,
        patria Maeonia est, humili de plebe parentes.’

        • 2000 translation by A. S. Kline

          Without fear, he answers ‘My name is Acoetes, and Maeonia is my country, my parents humble ordinary people.’

   2. The father of Laocoön.
      • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 11.30

        Sic ait inlacrimans, recipitque ad limina gressum
        corpus ubi exanimi positum Pallantis Acoetes
        servabat senior, qui Parrhasio Euandro
        armiger ante fuit, sed non felicibus aeque
        tum comes auspiciis caro datus ibat alumno.

        • 2002 translation by A. S. Kline

          So he spoke, weeping, and retraced his steps to the threshold
          where Pallas’s lifeless corpse was laid, watched
          by old Acoetes, who before had been armour-bearer
          to Arcadian Evander, but then, under less happy auspices,
          set out as the chosen guardian for his dear foster-child.

   3. A Theban character in Statius’s Thebaid.
      • c. 45 CE – 96 CE, Statius, Thebais 8.444

        Abstulit ex umero dextram Calydonius Agreus
        Phegeos: illa suum terra tenet improba ferrum
        et mouet; extimuit sparsa inter tela iacentem
        praegrediens truncamque tamen percussit Acoetes.

        • 1928 translation by J. H. Loeb Mozley

          Calydonian Agreus cut the right arm of Phegeus from off its shoulder: on the ground it holds the sword in unyielding grip and shakes it: Acoetes advancing feared it as it lay amid the scattered weapons, and struck at it, severed though it was.

Declension

First declension, masculine Greek type with nominative singular in -ēs.

Descendants

References

• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “Acœtēs”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette, page 23/2.

Old Latin

Etymology

Borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἀκοίτης ‎(Akoítēs).

Proper noun

Acoetēs m ‎(dative Acoetī, accusative Acoetem); third declension

1. (mythology) Acoetes
   • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:Acoetes.

Descendants

• Latin: Acoetēs