Translingual

Apis mellifera

Proper noun

Apis f

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Apidae – the honey bees.

Hypernyms

• (genus): Insecta - class; Dicondylia - clade; Pterygota - subclass; Metapterygota - clade; Neoptera - infraclass; Eumetabola, Endopterygota - clades; Hymenopterida - superorder; Hymenoptera - order; Apocrita - suborder; Apoidea - superfamily; Apidae - family; Apinae - subfamily; Apini - tribe

Hyponyms

• (genus): Apis andreniformis, Apis cerana, Apis dorsata, Apis florea, Apis koschevnikovi, Apis mellifera, Apis nigrocincta - species

Catalan

Noun

apis

1. plural of api

Crimean Tatar

Noun

apis

1. prison

Declension

Synonyms

• türme

Latin

apis (a bee)

Alternative forms

• apes

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from Egyptian bjt ‎(“honey bee”). Proto-Indo-European *bʰi- reconstructible from Germanic and Balto-Slavic evidence gave Old English bēo (English bee), but would have entered the Latin then as the reduced form /af/ from /?fj/. Alternatively, one can assume modification of initial obstruent due to a taboo (common for Proto-Indo-European flora). Other theories speculate on Osco-Umbrian borrowing, from an original *akuis ‎(“sharp, stinging”) (confer Latin aqui- ‎(“sharp”) in aquifolius, aquilinus; Osco-Umbrian reflex of Proto-Indo-European labiovelar */kʷ/ that gives Latin <qu> is regularly /p/). Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *a(m)p-i- ‎(“stinging insect; bee”), related to Saterland Frisian Ieme ‎(“bee”), German Imme ‎(“bee; swarm of bees”), Old English imbe ‎(“swarm of bees”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.pis/, [ˈa.pɪs]

Noun

apis f ‎(genitive apis); third declension

1. A bee.
   • 2 CE, Ovid, Ars Amatoria 1.95

     aut ut apēs saltusque suos et olentia nactae / pascua per flōrēs et thyma summa volant

     or as the bees, when they have found plants to plunder of their honey, hover hither and thither among the thyme and the flowers

Inflection

Third declension i-stem.

Derived terms

Descendants

See also

• crabro
• mel
• vespa f

References

• apis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• apis in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• APIS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “apis”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• apis in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia
• apis in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• apis in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• apis in William Smith., editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly