acies

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin aciēs (“edge, sharpness”).

Noun

acies

1. (obsolete) The full attention of one's sight, hearing or other senses, as directed towards a particular object.
   • 1658: And therefore providence hath arched and paved the great house of the world, with colours of mediocrity, that is, blew and green, above and below the sight, moderately terminating the acies of the eye. — Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus (Folio Society 2007, p. 204)
2. (obsolete, botany) The edge or angle of certain stems.

Anagrams

• -icase, acise, saice

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”). By surface analysis, aceō +‎ -iēs. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἀκίς (akís, “point, pointed object”), ἀκή (akḗ, “point”) and Proto-Germanic *agjō (whence English edge).

See also word origin of ace.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈa.ki.eːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈaː.t͡ʃi.es]

Noun

aciēs f (genitive aciēī); fifth declension

1. sharp edge or point
2. battle line
3. battle, engagement
   • CE 13-14, Augustus, Res Gestae Divi Augusti

     Qui parentem meum trucidaverunt, eos in exilium expuli iudiciis legitimis ultus eorum facinus, et postea bellum inferentis rei publicae vici bis acie.

     Those who cruelly killed my parent, I drove them into exile by legal trials having avenged their deed, and afterwards, when they made war on the republic, I defeated them twice in battle.

4. (Late Latin) steel
5. sharpness of sight, keeness of a glance
6. the pupil of an eye
7. a fixed look
8. acuteness of mind
9. a verbal contest

Declension

Fifth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	aciēs	aciēs
genitive	aciēī	aciērum
dative	aciēī	aciēbus
accusative	aciem	aciēs
ablative	aciē	aciēbus
vocative	aciēs	aciēs

Derived terms

• aciāle
• aciārium

Descendants

• Extremaduran: haci (merged with haci < fasces)
• Old Galician-Portuguese: az
• Old Spanish: azes, az
  • Spanish: haz (merged with haz < fasces)
• Sardinian: (< *acia)

  Campidanese: atza

  Logudorese: atta, atha

  • → Gallurese: accia, azza
• → English: acies
• → Italian: acie
• → Portuguese: ácie

References

• “acies”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “acies”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "acies", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “acies”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to gaze intently all around: in omnes partes aciem (oculorum) intendere
    
  • to dazzle a person: oculorum aciem alicui praestringere (also simply praestringere)
    
  • to lead the army to the fight: exercitum educere or producere in aciem
    
  • to enter the field of battle: in aciem descendere (Liv. 8. 8)
    
  • to draw up forces in battle-order: aciem (copias, exercitum) instruere or in acie constituere
    
  • to draw up the army in three lines: aciem triplicem instruere (B. G. 1. 24)
    
  • to extend the line of battle, deploy the battalions: aciem explicare or dilatare
    
  • the centre: media acies
    
  • to fight a pitched battle: acie (armis, ferro) decernere
    
  • to fight a pitched battle: in acie dimicare
    
  • to break through the enemy's centre: per medios hostes (mediam hostium aciem) perrumpere
    
  • the line of battle gives way: acies inclīnat or inclīnatur (Liv. 7. 33)
    
  • the enemy's line is repulsed: acies hostium impellitur
    
• “acies”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “acies”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin