Vates

The earliest Latin writers used vates to denote "prophets" and soothsayers in general; the word fell into disuse in Latin until it was revived by Virgil [1]. Then Ovid could describe himself as the vates of Eros (Amores 3.9).

According to Strabo [2] Diodorus Siculus [3] and Poseidonius, the vates (ουατεις) were one of three classes of Celtic priesthood, the other two being the druids and the bards. The Vates had the role of seers and performed the sacrifice, under the presidence of a druid. Their role was therefore corresponding to that of an Adhvaryu in Vedic religion. Celtic Vates is continued by Irish fáith "prophet, seer"[4].

It is unknown whether the Latin and Gaulish usages are cognates, or if the former should be considered a Celtic loanword. The word may be derived from a PIE root *vāt "to inspire, spiritually arouse", however that root may not be as old as Proto-Indo-European, since it is only certainly attested for Celtic and Germanic (but it may be present natively in Italic, and possibly also in Greek and Indo-Iranian). Vergil uses the Latin vannus "winnowing fan" (from *vat-nos) for something borne about in the Bacchic festival, suggesting that the root may have had an ecstatic sense in Italic also.

Rübekeil (2003) suggested that the Germanic god *Wodinaz may in fact be an early loanword, an adjective *vatinos based on Celtic vates.

External links

• Classical descriptions of the vates
• "The Atrebates": A silver coin of Verica, leader of the Atrebates, minted between 25 and 35 CE, interpreted as depicting a vates on the reverse

References

• Perkins, Caroline A.,"Ovid's Erotic Vates" in Helios, March, 2000 [5]
• Rübekeil, Ludwig, "Wodan und andere forschungsgeschichtliche Leichen : exhumiert Beiträge zur Namenforschung" (2003) [6]