English

Noun

classis ‎(plural classes)

1. (obsolete) A class or order; sort; kind.
   • Clarendon

     His opinion of that classis of men.

2. (obsolete, religion) An ecclesiastical body or judicatory in certain churches, such as the Reformed Dutch. It is intermediate between the consistory and the synod, and corresponds to the presbytery in the Presbyterian church.
   • 1982, Keith L. Sprunger, Dutch Puritanism

     At Utrecht and Breda there was strong pressure from the Dutch Reformed Church to exclude from employment British preachers who refused to take membership in the classis.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklɑ.sɪs/

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin classis.

Noun

classis f ‎(plural classes)

1. (Protestantism) a supracongregational executive body, intermediate in size or rank between the consistory of an individual congregation and a provincial synod.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- ‎(“to call, shout”). Cognate with Latin calō, clāmō, clārus, concilium, Ancient Greek καλέω ‎(kaléō).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈklas.sis/, [ˈkɫas.sɪs]

Noun

classis f ‎(genitive classis); third declension

1. any one of the five divisions into which Servius Tullius divided the Roman citizenry
2. the armed forces
3. fleet
4. a group, rank, or class

Inflection

Third declension, alternative ablative singular in -ī and accusative plural in -īs.

References

• classis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• classis in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• CLASSIS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “classis”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to spend money: pecuniam erogare (in classem)
    
  • to build a ship, a fleet: navem, classem aedificare, facere, efficere, instituere
    
  • to equip a boat, a fleet: navem (classem) armare, ornare, instruere
    
  • to make fast boats to anchors: naves (classem) constituere (in alto)
    
  • to sink a ship, a fleet: navem, classem deprimere, mergere
    
  • the fleets charge: classes concurrunt (Liv. 26. 39)
    
• classis in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• classis in Richard Stillwell et al., editor (1976) The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press