flamen

American  

[fley-muhn, -men] / ˈfleɪ mən, -mɛn /

noun

plural

flamens, flamines

1. (in ancient Rome) a priest.

---

flamen British  

/ ˈfleɪmɛn /

noun

1. (in ancient Rome) any of 15 priests who each served a particular deity

---

Etymology

Origin of flamen

1300–50; < Latin flamen (perhaps earlier *flādmen; akin to Old English blōtan to sacrifice); replacing Middle English flamin < Latin flāmin- (stem of flāmen )

Example Sentences

L. Cornelius Merula, who was elected consul in place of Cinna, was flamen dialis, or Priest of Jupiter.

From Plutarch's Lives, Volume II by Stewart, Aubrey

The one substantial proof of it lies in the unique and truly extraordinary character of the taboos placed on his flamen, and to some extent on the flamen's wife, by the Roman ius divinum.

From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by Fowler, W. Warde

Fourth in invocations came Quirinus, and fourth in order of precedence was his flamen.

From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by Fowler, W. Warde

He ceas'd, and spread the robe; the crowd confess The rev'rend flamen in his lengthen'd dress.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 358, August 1845 by Various

But the most extraordinary story of this kind is that of a flamen of Jupiter,—a story which many years ago I told in detail in the Classical Review.

From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by Fowler, W. Warde