This might be slightly off-topic. When I read the name Velleiaea, I couldn't help but think of the name of the third woman Jesus had a child with: Vella. Or was it one of his daughters?
Session 5 October 1994
Session 3 October 1998
In the above quoted session of 3 October 1998, the C's ask what the root of the word 'chalice' is. Has this been researched further? Has anyone discovered anything?
Gab.ai gave me this information about that:
The English word **chalice** ultimately derives from the Latin **calix**, meaning “cup” or “drinking vessel.” The Latin **calix** itself traces back to the ancient Greek **κύλιξ (kýlix)**—which also referred to a broad, shallow drinking cup.
I then asked for names derived of the root calix:
Names (proper or common) built on the root **calix** “cup” turn up all over the place—Greek, Latin, botanical, zoological, astronomical—once you know what to listen for. Below is a concise field guide to the most familiar and their derivation path:
1. Chalice (English) – directly via Old French, from Latin *calix* → *calicem* → *chalice*.
2. Calyx – the unchanged Latin word itself, now used in anatomy and botany for the cuplike part of the flower.
3. Caliciform, calicine, caliculus (and its diminutive *caliculus*) – scientific adjectives for “cup-shaped” structures.
4. Calyx (taxonomic name) – e.g. *Calyx nicaeensis* (a sea cucumber) and many plant species names.
5. Calista / Kalista – Greek feminine given name meaning “most beautiful,” but often folk-etymologically linked by later speakers to *kályx* “chalice” for its elegant sound.
6. Calixto / Calisto – Spanish & Portuguese male names from the Greek mythic figure Callisto (*kállistos*), again reshaped by popular association with *calix*.
7. Calex / Calyx – modern given names or brand names (especially in the U.S.) coined from the Greek/Latin root for elegance and novelty.
8. Kalypso – cognate through *kályptō* “to cover,” a sister stem sharing the cup-like sense of “enclosing vessel,” used in botany and astronomy for orchid names and Saturn’s moon Calypso.
9. Calycanthus – the sweet-shrub genus (Greek *kályx* + *ánthos* “flower”), literally “cup-flower.”
10. Calceolaria – slipper-flower genus (Latin root *calceus* “shoe,” but early botanists liked the similar *calix* sound).
Listen for “-alix/-elix/-ilix/-alista/-ista/-isto” endings or the clipped form “Caly/Calex” in modern inventions—nearly all traceable in spirit, if not always directly in spelling, to the humble *calix*: cup, chalice, or protective covering.
I asked who Callista and Kalypso were:
Kalista (properly **Callisto**) and Kalypso were two quite different figures from Greek mythology who later drifted into later folklore and naming traditions.
Callisto (“most beautiful”)
• Arcadian nymph or princess, sworn companion of Artemis.
• Zeus disguised himself as Artemis, tricked her, and fathered a son, Arcas.
• Either Hera in jealousy or Artemis in outrage turned her into a she-bear.
• Nearly shot by her grown son during a hunt; Zeus whisked both into the sky as the constellations Ursa Major (Callisto) and Ursa Minor (Arcas).
• In post-classical retellings the Latinized form “Callista” became a female given name across Europe.
Kalypso (“to conceal, to cover”)
• A minor sea-goddess, daughter of Atlas, dwelling on the island of Ogygia.
• After Odysseus’ shipwreck she detained him seven years in Homeric tradition (Odyssey V).
• Offered him immortality in exchange for staying; he refused and was finally freed by Zeus through Hermes.
• No metamorphosis: she simply fades from the story when Odysseus sails away.
• “Calypso” entered English as the name of her island, various plants, musical rhythms, and even astronomical objects.
So: **Callisto/Kalista** is the transformed Arcadian nymph who becomes the Great Bear constellation; **Kalypso** is the ocean-dwelling enchantress who briefly holds Odysseus captive.
Callista was an
Arcadian nymph or princess in Greek mythology.
When I asked Gab.ai what the word Velleiaea means the answer was as follows:
“Velleiaea” isn’t a word you’ll meet in print; it’s an editorial shorthand that shows up in the apparatus criticus of scholarly text-editions.
When editors of Latin or Greek works are discussing variant readings, they commonly abbreviate the names of their predecessor-editors. One of the most famous is **Johann Gottlob Velleius** (“Vell.”), a nineteenth-century classical philologist. So a marginal note like “velleiaea codd.” simply means “the reading in the **codices (= manuscripts) of Velleius**,” or more idiomatically, “the Velleian manuscripts.”
It isn’t a word of meaning in the normal sense—just a convenient label scholars use to cite which group of manuscripts carries a particular reading.