Belgae

English

Etymology

From Latin Belgae, an Iron-Age European group of tribes located between the rivers Seine and Rhine.

Noun

Belgae pl (plural only)

1. (historical) A group of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel and the west bank of the Rhine, from at least the 3rd century BC.

Translations

group of tribes

• Finnish: belgit pl

References

• Pokorny, Julius, "The pre-Celtic inhabitants of Ireland", Celtic, DIAS, 1960 (reprint 1983), p. 231.

Anagrams

• Beagle, beagle, glebae

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *belg-, *bolg- (“to swell (with anger)”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- (“to bulge, swell”), thus meaning "People who swell (with fury/anger)." Also see Old English belgan and Dutch gebelgd.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈbel.ɡae̯/, [ˈbɛɫ̪ɡäe̯]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbel.d͡ʒe/, [ˈbɛl̠ʲd͡ʒe]

Proper noun

Belgae m pl (genitive Belgārum); first declension

1. Belgae; a group of tribes of northern Gaul
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.1:

     Gallia est omnis dīvīsa in partēs trēs, quārum ūnam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquītānī, tertiam quī ipsōrum linguā Celtae, nostrā Gallī appellantur.

     Gaul, taken as a whole, is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in our language the Gauls, the third.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	Belga	Belgae
genitive	Belgae	Belgārum
dative	Belgae	Belgīs
accusative	Belgam	Belgās
ablative	Belgā	Belgīs
vocative	Belga	Belgae

Usually plural, but the singular "Belga" is found in Lucan's Bellum Civile (1.426).

Derived terms

• belgicus

References

• “Belgae”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Belgae in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “Belgae”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers