Editing Gladius (section)

==Etymology==
{{Wiktionary}}
''Gladius'' is a [[Latin]] masculine noun. The [[nominative]] plural of it is {{lang|la|gladiī}}. However, {{lang|la|gladius}} in Latin refers to any sword, not only the sword described here. The word appears in literature as early as the plays of [[Plautus]] (''Casina'', ''Rudens'').

''Gladius'' is generally believed to be a [[Continental Celtic|Celtic]] loan in Latin (perhaps via an Etruscan intermediary), derived from ancient Celtic {{lang|cel|*kladi(b)os}} or {{lang|cel|*kladimos}} "sword" (whence modern Welsh {{lang|cy|cleddyf}} "sword", modern [[Bretons|Breton]] {{lang|br|klezeff}}, Old Irish {{lang|sga|claideb}}/Modern Irish {{lang|ga|claidheamh}} [itself perhaps a loan from Welsh]; the root  of the word may survive in the Old Irish verb ''claidid'' "digs, excavates" and anciently attested in the [[Gallo-Brittonic]] place name element ''cladia''/''clado'' "ditch, trench, valley hollow").<ref>McCone, Kim, "Greek Κελτός and Γαλάτης, Latin Gallus 'Gaul', in: Die Sprache 46, 2006, p. 106</ref><ref>Schrijver, Peter, The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Latin, Rodopi, 1991, p. 174.</ref><ref>Delamarre, Xavier, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, Errance, 2003 (2nd ed.), p. 118.</ref><ref>Schmidt, Karl Horst, 'Keltisches Wortgut im Lateinischen', in: Glotta 44 (1967), p. 159.</ref><ref>Koch, Celtic Culture, ABC-CLIO, 2006, p. 215</ref>

Modern English words derived from {{lang|la|gladius}} include [[gladiator]] ("swordsman") and ''[[gladiolus]]'' ("little sword", from the [[diminutive]] form of ''gladius''), a [[flowering plant]] with sword-shaped leaves.