Note 423 — Chapter IV · THE CENTURIES AND THE CLASSES

Some of the ancients derive classis from calare, “to call,” hence “summoning;” Dion. Hal. iv. 18. 2; Quint. Inst. i. 6. 33; accepted by Walde, Lat. Etym. Wörterb. 125; Soltau, Altröm. Volksversamml. 242; Lange, Röm. Alt. i. 464. Others connected it with κᾶλος “firewood,” hence “gathering;” Serv. in Aen. i. 39; Isid. Etym. xix. 1. 15; Schol. Luc. i. 306. Corssen, Ausspr. i. 494, proposes to derive it from a root “clat,” which appears in the Greek κλητεύειν (Lat. *clat-ē-re), Germ. laden, which would still give the meaning “summoning;” cf. Curtius, Griech. Etym. 139; Vaniček, Griech. Lat. etym. Wörterb. 143 (*cla-t, cla-t-ti-s). Mommsen accepted the meaning “summoning” in the early editions of his History, but rejects it in the Staatsrecht, iii. 262 f. (cf. his History, English ed. i. 1900. 115 f., 118) on the ground that however adapted it may have been to the later political classes, it could not well apply to the fleet and army, and hence could not belong to the earlier use of the word, which denoted the line in contrast with those who fought outside the line. But against his reasoning it could be urged that classis with the idea of “summoning” first applied to the line of heavy infantry—the only effective part of the army; and when once the connotation of “line” had been established, it could easily extend to the fleet.