Chaldees

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ancient people who lived in southern Babylonia and were known for their advanced astronomy and learning
2. The old Semitic-speaking inhabitants of Chaldea, a region of southern Mesopotamia in ancient times
3. A historical people of the Babylonian lowlands, often mentioned in the Bible as the rulers who conquered Judah

Etymology: "Chaldees" is the plural of "Chaldee," which came into English through Middle French from Latin "Chaldaeus," the Latin form of the name of the people and region the Greeks and Romans knew as Chaldaea. The Latin name was itself a rendering of a Semitic name for the people who lived in the far south of Mesopotamia, in the lands along the lower Tigris and Euphrates, near the Persian Gulf. The plural form is the one English writers mostly used when they meant the people themselves, the Chaldeans, and the word carries that ancient geography with it. Because Chaldea was a region with a long, famous history of astronomy and divination, the Latin and Greek writers who used the name often attached it to the skilled astrologers and priests of Babylon. In English, the plural is therefore most often met in older Bible translations and classical histories, where the name points to a people rather than to a language.

Synonyms: Chaldeans