paelex

Latin > English

paelex paelicis N F :: mistress (installed as rival/in addition to wife), concubine; male prostitute

Latin > English (Lewis & Short)

paelex: (pēlex, and, only in inscriptions, pellex), icis, f. akin to Sanscr. pallavaka, girl; Gr. παλλακίς, concubine,
I a kept mistress, concubine of a married man.
I Lit.: antiqui proprie eam pelicem nominabant, quae uxorem habenti nubebat. Cui generi mulierum etiam poena constituta est a Numā Pompilio hāc lege: paelex aram Junonis ne tangito, etc., Paul. ex Fest. p. 222 Müll.; cf. Gell. 4, 3, 3: libro Memorialium Masurius scribit: pelicem apud antiquos eam habitam, quae, cum uxor non esset, cum aliquo tamen vivebat eamque nunc vero nomine amicam, paulo honestiore concubinam appellari, Dig. 50, 16, 144; Plaut. Cist. 1, 1, 39; id. Merc. 4, 1, 24 et saep.—With gen. of the wronged wife: filiae paelex, Cic. Clu. 70, 199; id. Or. 30, 108: tune eris et matris paelex et adultera patris? Ov. M. 10, 347: illa Jovis magni paelex, metuenda sorori, id. H. 14, 95: fugit (Medea) ulta paelicem, Magni Creontis filiam, Hor. Epod. 5, 63: horrida, Juv. 2, 57.— Poet., of the cows, as rivals of Pasiphaë, who had become enamoured of a bull, Ov. A. A. 1, 321.—
II Transf.
   A A kept mistress, concubine, in gen. (post-class.): virginem constupratam servo suo paelicem dederat, Curt. 10, 1, 5: Artaxerxi regi Persarum ex paelicibus centum et quindecim filii fuere, Just. 10, 1, 1; cf.: Granius Flaccus scribit, pelicem quosdam vocare eam, quae uxoris loco sine nuptiis in domo sit. Dig. 50, 16, 144.—
   B A male prostitute (postclass.), Paul. ex Fest. p. 222 Müll.: Dolabella eum (Caesarem) pelicem reginae (appellavit), as the favorite of King Nicomedes, Suet. Caes. 49; in apposition, pelices ministri, Mart. 12, 97, 3.—*
   C Comically, a substitute: quoties pelex culcita facta mea est (sc. matellae), Mart. 14, 119, 2.

Latin > French (Gaffiot 2016)

pælex, pælicātus, v. pellex.

Latin > German (Georges)

paelex, paelicātus, s. pēlex, pēlicātus.