Caelum – Constellations of Words

Latin caelum means both ‘the heavens’ (from the same root as ‘celestial‘), and ‘sculptor’s chisel‘, or burin; an engraving tool for metals and stone. It is this instrument that La Caille had in mind when he named this constellation.

The word ‘sky’, often used to translate Latin caelum, is a cognate of Latin scutum, shield. Scutum is another constellation. Our word ‘sky’ comes from an Old Norse word, sky, which means ‘cloud’. The word Caelum, on the other hand, is related to German heiter, which is translated ‘clear, shining, cloudless’. The word celestial derives from Latin caelum; ‘celestial’ in English seems to refer to objects above the clouds; celestial beings are heavenly beings, meaning a god or angel, planets and stars are celestial bodies. The Roman counterpart for Greek Uranus is Caelus

Caelum comes from the Indo-European root *kaeid ‘To strike’. Derivatives: caesura (a pause in speech), cement (rough stone chippings, ‘to cut, hew, lop’, whence also caelum for *caid-(s)lom, ‘chisel’), cestus² (ancient Roman boxing gloves with studs), chisel, –cide, scissor (scissors), abscise, circumcise, concise, decide, decision, excise², incise, incisive, incisors, precise, recision (from Latin caedere, to cut, strike, hit, knock down, murder, smash), Caelum, ceil (to overlay, cover with a ceiling. — French ciel, ‘sky, canopy’), ceiling (from Latin caelare, from caelum, chisel), celestial. [Pokorny (s)k(h)ai– 917. Watkins] Also related is cerulean (sky-blue, formed in English from Latin caeruleus dark blue, from caelum sky, heaven). Klein supplies more cognates and says “Compare also cheetah, chintz, chit, chitty, ‘a short letter'”.

“Lofty (celsus) is named after sky, because one is elevated and high, as if the term were ‘celestial‘ (caelestis).” [p.215.] “The sky and its name (De caelo et eius nomine). The philosophers have said that the sky (caelum, ‘sky, heaven, the heavens’) is rounded, spinning, and burning; and the sky is called by its name because it has the figures of the constellations impressed into it, just like an engraved (caelare) vessel. God distinguished the sky with bright lights, and he filled it with the sun and the gleaming orb of the moon, and he adorned it with brilliant constellations composed of glittering stars. In Greek the sky is called ouranos, from orasthai, that is, from ‘seeing,’ from the fact that the air is clear and very pure for seeing through” [p.100]. “The sky (De caelo): The sky (caelum) is so named because, like an engraved (caelatum) vessel, it has the lights of the stars pressed into it, just like engraved figures; for a vessel which glitters with figures that stand out is called caelatus. … Sometimes the word ‘sky’ is used for the air, where winds and clouds and storms and whirlwinds arise. Lucretius (cf. OntheNatureofThings 4.133): The sky (caelum), which is called air (aer). And the Psalm (78:2; 103:12, Vulgate) refers to ‘fowls of the sky (caelum), ‘when it is clear that birds fly in the air; out of habit we also call this air, ‘sky.’ Thus when we ask whether it is fair or overcast we sometimes say, ‘How is the air?’ and sometimes ‘How is the sky?’ ” [p.272.]. “The chisel (cilium, i.e. caelum or cilio) is the tool with which silversmiths work, and from this engraved (caelare) vessels are named.” [p.376.] “Chased (caelatus) dishes are silver or gold, modeled inside and out with figures that stand out, so called from an engraver’s burin (caelum), which is a kind of iron tool, which commonly is called a chisel (cilio).” [p.399.] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD

Quintilianus believed that the words celibate and caelum are related:

“Because Saturn cut off the genitalia of Caelus (Uranus), men who have no wives are, therefore, called caelibes (celibate). … caelibes, ‘bachelors’ was the same as caelites, ‘inhabitants of heaven'” [Quintilianus, ca. 35-ca. 100, p.55].

Isidore also sees celibate as related to caelum

“A ‘celestial one’ (caeles) is so called because such a one directs his course to the sky (caelum). Celibate (caelebs), one having no part in marriage, of which kind are the numinous beings in heaven (caelum), who have no spouses – and caelebs is so called as if the term were ‘blessed in heaven’ (caelobeatus). Heavenly-dweller (caelicola), because they ‘dwell in heaven’ (caelumcolere) – for that is an angel.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.215.]

Celestial Empire is the old name for China, or to the former Chinese Empire.

Praxiteles, was another name for Caelum after the greatest sculptor of the ancient Greek world. There is another constellation named Sculptor in the skies which is likely to refer to Pygmalion who carved his statue of Galathea out of ivory. Praxiteles and his school chiselled his statues almost entirely in marble.

His name derives from Greek Praxis ‘the act of doing’. Derivatives: practical, from Greek prassein, prattein, ‘to do, effect, accomplish, practice’, practice, pragmatic, pratique, praxis, apraxia, chiropractic. Klein adds the word barato, to this root, a Spanish word “from the adjective barato, ‘cheap’, from baratar, ‘to barter, traffic’, which probably derives from Greek prattein, ‘to do, perform’.” The English word barter derives from Old French barater, looks like it would be a cognate of Spanish barato.

From this root derives Praxithea, the wife of Erechtheus, king of Athens. Lycurgus writes that she favoured sacrificing one of her daughters to gain a victory against Eumolpus, as Erechtheus had been advised to do by the Delphic oracle. She argued that if her daughter were a son, she would have sent him forth to war []. This is an extreme example of practicality

Fixed stars in Caelum
Star	1900	2000	R A	Decl 2000	Lat	Mag	Sp
delta (δ)	18TAU36	19TAU59	4h 30m 50.1s	-44° 57′ 14″	-65 19 52	5.16	B3
alpha (α)	24TAU46	26TAU09	4h 40m 33.7s	-41° 51′ 50″	-62 59 37	4.52	F1
beta (β)	28TAU00	29TAU23	4h 42m 3.5s	-37° 8′ 40″	-58 32 18	5.08	F0
gamma (γ)	07GEM01	08GEM24	5h 4m 24.4s	-35° 29′ 0″	-57 53 27	4.62	K5