fáith

In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovate (, ), are used as technical terms for ancient Celtic bards, prophets and philosophers. The terms correspond to a Proto-Celtic word which can be reconstructed as *''wātis''.Bernhard Maier, ''Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture'', trans. by Cyril Edwards (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1997), p. 278 .v. ''vates'' Irish ' "prophet, seer".

History of terminology

The terminology discussed in this article relates to an Old Celtic word which can be reconstructed as *''wātis''. This word is not directly attested, but is inferred from renderings into Greek and Latin and from its descendants in later Celtic languages.

''Vates'' in English is a borrowing of a Latin noun ''vātēs'' (), "prophet, poet". This Latin noun was either a cognate of Celtic *''wātis'' (in which case the two words were descended from a common Italo-Celtic">:wikt:vates">''vātēs'' (), "prophet, poet". This Latin noun was either a cognate of Celtic *''wātis'' (in which case the two words were descended from a common Italo-Celtic origin),Michiel de Vaan, ''Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages'', Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, 7 (Leiden: Brill, 2008), p. 656 [s.v. ''vātēs, -is'']. or else a loanword directly from Celtic. Despite being borrowed from the Latin form, the English word is generally used to refer to ancient Celtic seers rather than Roman ones.

''Ovate'' in English is a borrowing and adaptation of a Greek rendering of the same Celtic term *''wātis'', first attested in the work of the Ancient Greek writer Strabo. Strabo rendered the Celtic term in Greek in the plural as ''ouáteis'' (, Koine: )."Ovate, n.1." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, December 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/134224. Accessed 7 December 2018. The English word ''ovate'' is pronounced the way it is due to a misunderstanding of how the Greek word was pronounced.

Proto-Celtic *''wātis'' developed in medieval Irish as "prophet, seer". Less directly, it is related to ''gwawd'' "panegyric" in Welsh.

Celtic ''wātis'' is widely thought to have cognates in the Germanic languages, such as the Gothic term ''wods'' "possessed" (though Ludwig Rübekeil 2003 has suggested that the name of the Common Germanic deity ' may in fact be an early loanword, an adjective ''*'' based on Celtic ').

If the Celtic word *''wātis'', the Latin ''vates'', and similar Germanic words are cognates rather than borrowings, they can be derived from an Indo-European word ' "seer".

Virgil uses the Latin ' "winnowing basket" (conceivably from ', compare Old High German ', modern German ', with the same meaning, from ') for something carried about in the Bacchic festival, suggesting that the root may have had an ecstatic sense in Italic also. The likelihood of this etymology and its relevance to the word ''vates'' is, however, doubtful.

"Ovate" is used as a direct translation of the Welsh word ''ofydd'' (derived from the Roman poet Ovid) and it is also plausible that ''ovate'' is derived from ''ofydd''.

History of the institution

Ancient Rome

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. Thus Ovid could describe himself as the ' of Eros ('' Amores'' 3.9).

In pagan Rome the vates resided on the Vatican Hill, the Hill of the Vates. The Vatican Hill takes its name from the Latin word Vaticanus, ''a vaticiniis ferendis'', in allusion to the oracles, or ''vaticinia'', which were anciently delivered on the Vatican Hill. (When the papacy was returned to Rome from Avignon (France) in the 14th century, the Vatican became the residence of the Pope, and the word Vatican came to refer to the enclave in the middle of Rome that had become the seat of the Roman Catholic Church.)

Celtic civilisation

According to the ancient Greek writers Strabo,Ovates or Vates: The Shamans
/ref> Diodorus Siculus, and Poseidonius, the ' () 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 sacrifices (in particular administering human sacrifice) under the authority of a druid according to Roman and Christian interpretation.

Modern usage

Thomas Carlyle discussed the similarities and differences between the "''Vates'' Prophet" and the "''Vates'' Poet" in '' On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History'' (1841).

''Vates'' or ''Ovates'' make up one of the three grades of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, a neo-druidism order based in England.

An ovate is also the initial level one can attain in the modern Welsh Gorsedd of Bards. The Gorsedd is not a neo-druidic entity like the one mentioned above, but is more concerned with Welsh arts and culture; however, the ceremony and practices are largely based on reimaginings of druidism by Iolo Morganwg.

Citations

General and cited sources

* Ellis, Peter Berresford, ''The Druids'', William B. Eerdmans Publishing (1995)
* Perkins, Caroline A.,
Ovid's Erotic Vates
in ''Helios'', March 2000
* Rübekeil, Ludwig,
Wodan und andere forschungsgeschichtliche Leichen: exhumiert
'', Beiträge zur Namenforschung (2003), 25–42.

External links

{{Gallic peoples

Ancient Roman religion
Prophets
Druidry
Italo-Celtic