bellus

Latin

Etymology

From Old Latin *duenelos, diminutive of duonus (whence bonus).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈbel.lus/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbel.lus/,

Adjective

bellus (feminine bella, neuter bellum, adverb bellē); first/second-declension adjective

1. beautiful, pretty, handsome
2. pleasant, agreeable, charming

Usage notes

The most common Classical terms for "beautiful" are pulcher and formosus.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Synonyms

• (beautiful, pretty): pulcher
• (pleasant, agreeable): iūcundus

Descendants

See also

• bellum

References

• “bellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “bellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• bellus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to threaten some one with death, crucifixion, torture, war: minitari (minari) alicui mortem, crucem et tormenta, bellum
    
  • (ambiguous) to threaten war, carnage: denuntiare bellum, caedem (Sest. 20. 46)
    
  • (ambiguous) a religious war: bellum pro religionibus susceptum
    
  • (ambiguous) men exempt from service owing to age: qui per aetatem arma ferre non possunt or aetate ad bellum inutiles
    
  • (ambiguous) to charge some one with the conduct of a war: praeficere aliquem bello gerendo
    
  • (ambiguous) the command-in-chief: summa belli, imperii (B. G. 2. 4. 7)
    
  • (ambiguous) to make preparations for war: bellum parare
    
  • (ambiguous) preparations for war; war-material: apparatus (rare in plur.) belli
    
  • (ambiguous) to make formal declaration of war: bellum indīcere, denuntiare
    
  • (ambiguous) a regular, formal war: bellum iustum (pium)
    
  • (ambiguous) a civil war: bellum intestinum, domesticum (opp. bellum externum)
    
  • (ambiguous) to cause a war: bellum facere, movere, excitare
    
  • (ambiguous) to kindle a war: bellum conflare (Fam. 5. 2. 8)
    
  • (ambiguous) to meditate war: bellum moliri
    
  • (ambiguous) to commence hostilities: bellum incipere, belli initium facere (B. G. 7. 1. 5)
    
  • (ambiguous) to interfere in a war: bello se interponere (Liv. 35. 48)
    
  • (ambiguous) to be involved in a war: bello implicari
    
  • (ambiguous) to begin a war with some one: bellum cum aliquo inire
    
  • (ambiguous) a war is imminent: bellum impendet, imminet, instat
    
  • (ambiguous) war breaks out: bellum oritur, exardescit
    
  • (ambiguous) everywhere the torch of war is flaming: omnia bello flagrant or ardent (Fam. 4. 1. 2)
    
  • (ambiguous) to make war on a person: bellum gerere cum aliquo
    
  • (ambiguous) to wage war in conjunction with some one: bellum coniungere (Imp. Pomp. 9. 26)
    
  • (ambiguous) to protract, prolong a war: bellum ducere, trahere, extrahere
    
  • (ambiguous) to carry on a war energetically: omni studio in (ad) bellum incumbere
    
  • (ambiguous) to invade: bellum inferre alicui (Att. 9. 1. 3)
    
  • (ambiguous) to be the aggressor in a war; to act on the offensive: bellum or arma ultro inferre
    
  • (ambiguous) to act on the defensive: bellum (inlatum) defendere
    
  • (ambiguous) to go to war, commence a campaign: proficisci ad bellum, in expeditionem (Sall. Iug. 103)
    
  • (ambiguous) to send to the war: mittere ad bellum
    
  • (ambiguous) to have the control of the war: bellum administrare
    
  • (ambiguous) to harass with war: bello persequi aliquem, lacessere
    
  • (ambiguous) to put an end to war: belli finem facere, bellum finire
    
  • (ambiguous) to terminate a war (by force of arms and defeat of one's opponents): bellum conficere, perficere
    
  • (ambiguous) to terminate a war (by a treaty, etc.: bellum componere (Fam. 10. 33)
    
  • (ambiguous) to transfer the seat of war elsewhere: bellum transferre alio, in...
    
  • (ambiguous) the seat of war, theatre of operations: belli sedes (Liv. 4. 31)
    
  • (ambiguous) to change one's tactics: rationem belli gerendi mutare (Liv. 32. 31)
    
  • (ambiguous) to triumph over some one: triumphare de aliquo (ex bellis)
    
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

Maltese

Etymology

Eventually from Latin villus, vellus (“hair, fleece”). Aquilina apparently seeks to derive it directly from this noun, comparing fellus (“chick”), from Latin pullus. However, the word must then have passed from Latin through Berber into Arabic, which seems unlikely. Much more probably it is from the adjective villosus, whence French velours (“velvet”). Compare also Italian velluto. The Maltese b- is probably due to adaptation of the un-Arabic v-, though there is an (unrelated?) Arabic بَلاس (balās), بُلُس (bulus, “hair-cloth”), which might have influenced the form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛlˈluːs/

Noun

bellus m

1. velvet

Derived terms