steles or stelae?

Nefertari

I'm writing a poem and there is a line 'he dreams of the stone steles on which he will record his victories'

Is it steles or should it be stelae?

Kangaroo

That's a good one, Kateyanne. I don't know...

heather

Stelae seems more common, but I think either is acceptable.
Stelae sounds better in your poem, to me.

Jay Mandal

Have you checked a dictionary? I thought you meant stars at first - 'a' words become 'ae' in the plural in Latin. But is it Latin? Or the right conjugation? By the way, I've just woken up, so excuse the ramblings.

Carol

At least you lot know what a 'stelae' is...

Jay Mandal

Drat. Never could tell my conjugations from my declensions! And, no, I don't know what stelae are. Oh, stele/stela, plural stelae - Greek - an upright stone slab, according to my trusty Chambers.

Carol

So glad it's not just me...:)

Nefertari

Heather do you think so? I was thinking steles was better as the 'es' ending is repeated on 'victories'

Carol

Could someone who seems to know explain what it actually is?

Jay Mandal

Carol, I edited my post to show the meaning. :)

Carol

Thanks, I'll have a look.

An upright stone slab basically-thanks Jay. Well that is my new fact for the day.
Have to say I have never heard that word before.

heather

I think I liked it better because of the slant rhyme with dreams, kateyanne, and because it makes it a longer, 'dreamier' word.
There are a lot of 's' sounds already and that felt like one too many to me.

But that's just my personal opinion, of course, and you are a much more successful poet than I am!

Dwight

Kateyanne, when I saw the title of your thread on the discussions page I opened it at once because 'steles' is not a common word - but it comes into my novel!

The hero and his group come across a group of them and it represents the signal that they're crossing over from western to eastern mores. I had always taken it as steles, plural of a stele. That part of my book has been through the hands of two different editors for Cornerstones, and neither of them saw fit to mention it. And believe me, they pick up on everything like literary vacuum cleaners.

So I recommend steles :) .

Nefertari

Carol, Pharaohs recorded their battles on stone steles, which can be found on temple walls. Rameses the second records his battle of Kadesh on a stone stele which can be seen at Karnak temple and other places.
Thing is in books on Ancient Egypt sometimes I see it written as steles and other times stelae I was wondering if there is a rule and which would apply in my poem.

Thanks Heather will have a think about that.

Thanks Dwight!

collide-o-scope

1. pl., steles, also -lae (-

You can use either I guess

Betsie

I didn't know this word Katyanne and my dictionary says

If you are referring upright pillars it should be stela (singular) stelae (plural)

Stele is something to do with plants

That's from the Oxford Complete Word Finder

collide-o-scope

I'm so confused I'm away for a pint of stella ;-)

Nefertari

:)

Liz

Chambers says it can be stele or stela, and the plural is stelae. It can be an adjective, stelar.

The central cylindars of plants are stel or stele. Plural the same.

Jenny

This is a very literate thread - all these posts (stone or otherwise!) regarding classical grammar!

Dwight

Am I allowed to maintain that it's one stele and a row of steles?

Of course I could be wrong ;) .

kado

[quote=collide-o-scope]I'm so confused I'm away for a pint of stella [/quote]

Good idea; I've just finished one!

boredrobots

[quote=collide-o-scope]I'm so confused I'm away for a pint of stella ;-)[/quote]

I concur! :D

Nefertari

After considering the above I've decided to go with stelae. Thanks everyone for your help.