In modern English, the words "vates" ( / ˈ v eɪ t iː z / ) and "ovate" ( UK : / ˈ ɒ v ə t , ˈ oʊ v eɪ t / , US : / ˈ oʊ v eɪ t / ) are special terms used by experts to describe ancient Celtic bards, prophets, and philosophers. These words come from a Proto-Celtic language, which can be reconstructed as * wātis . Sometimes, they are also used as English translations for later Celtic terms, such as the Irish word "fáith," which means "prophet" or "seer."
History of terminology
The words discussed in this article come from an Old Celtic term that scholars believe was *wātis. This word is not found in direct sources, but it is inferred from Greek and Latin writings and from later Celtic languages.
The English word "vates" comes from the Latin noun vātēs, which means "prophet, poet." This Latin word may have been related to the Celtic *wātis, meaning they both came from a shared Italo-Celtic origin, or it may have been borrowed directly from Celtic. Although "vates" was taken from Latin, it is usually used to describe ancient Celtic seers, not Roman ones.
The English word "ovate" comes from a Greek version of the same Celtic term *wātis. The Greek writer Strabo first recorded this term in the plural form as ouáteis. The pronunciation of "ovate" in English, /əʊ.veɪt/, is based on a misunderstanding of how the Greek word was spoken.
In medieval Irish, the Celtic *wātis became fáith, meaning "prophet, seer." It is also loosely connected to the Welsh word gwawd, meaning "panegyric."
The Celtic wātis is believed to have similar words in Germanic languages, such as the Gothic term mods, meaning "possessed." Some scholars suggest that the name of the Germanic god Wōđinaz may have been influenced by the Celtic term *vates.
If wātis, the Latin vates, and similar Germanic words are related rather than borrowed, they might all come from an older Indo-European word, (h)ueh₂t-i-, meaning "seer."
The Roman poet Virgil used the Latin word vannus, meaning "winnowing basket," to describe an object used in a festival. This might suggest that the root of *wātis had a connection to ecstatic practices in Italic languages, but this connection is uncertain.
The word "ovate" is also used as a direct translation of the Welsh word ofydd, which comes from the Roman poet Ovid. It is also possible that "ovate" was influenced by the Welsh word ofydd.
History of the institution
The earliest Latin writers used the word vates to describe prophets and people who told the future. This word was not used much in Latin until Virgil brought it back into use. For example, Ovid called himself the vates of Eros in his work Amores 3.9.
In ancient Rome, vates lived on a hill called the Vatican Hill, which was named after them. The name "Vaticanus" comes from the Latin phrase vaticiniis ferendis, meaning "to deliver prophecies." This refers to the oracles, or vaticinia, that were once given on the Vatican Hill. Later, in the 1300s, when the Pope returned to Rome from France, the Vatican became the Pope’s home, and the name "Vatican" came to describe the area in Rome where the Roman Catholic Church is based.
Ancient Greek writers like Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and Poseidonius wrote that the vates (Greek: οὐάτεις) were one of three groups of priests among the Celts. The other groups were the druids and the bards. The vates were known as seers who performed sacrifices, including human sacrifices, under the direction of druids, according to Roman and Christian records.
Modern usage
Thomas Carlyle compared the similarities and differences between the "Vates Prophet" and the "Vates Poet" in his book On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History (1841).
The Vates, or Ovates, are one of the three levels in the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, a group inspired by ancient druid traditions and based in England.
An ovate is also the first level someone can reach in the modern Welsh Gorsedd of Bards. The Gorsedd focuses on Welsh arts and culture, not neo-druidism. Its ceremonies and practices are based on recreated versions of druid traditions created by Iolo Morganwg.