flamen means A priest devoted to the service of a particular god, from whom he received a distinguishing epithet. The most honored were those of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, called respectively Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis, and Flamen Quirinalis. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
Why this word is great
FLAMEN — [Noun] In ancient Roman religion, a priest devoted exclusively and perpetually to the cult of a single, major deity, such as Jupiter, Mars, or Quirinus. Borrowed from Latin flāmen ("ancient Roman priest"), a word of uncertain but possibly Proto-Indo-European origin, perhaps related to a root meaning "to worship". Unlike a pontifex, a member of a governing college with broad civic duties, or an augur, a technical interpreter of divine signs, a flamen was a singular vessel, his entire identity consecrated to one divine presence. One feels the palpable weight of the woolen apex upon his head, the meticulous observance of archaic taboos, the solitary tending of a perpetual flame—a man so interwoven with divine protocol that his person became a fragile, walking temple, a paradox of ultimate significance achieved through the most precise of constraints.
noun
- A priest devoted to the service of a particular god, from whom he received a distinguishing epithet. The most honored were those of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, called respectively Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis, and Flamen Quirinalis.