filiae

Filiae is a Latin form related to filia, meaning daughter. It is primarily the feminine plural nominative of filia (the daughters), but it also appears as the genitive singular and as the vocative plural in different contexts. Filia is a first-declension noun; its standard paradigm is: singular: nom filia, gen filiae, dat filiae, acc filiam, abl filia; plural: nom filiae, gen filiarum, dat filiis, acc filias, abl filis. Thus the spelling filiae can be ambiguous without context, as it may indicate plural subjects or a singular possessive/indirect object.

In ordinary Latin, filiae translates to “daughters” in the nominative plural, and to “of the daughter” or “to/for the daughter” in its genitive or dative singular uses, respectively. It also serves as the vocative plural form in direct address. The word frequently occurs in classical texts, inscriptions, and genealogical passages, where it often appears with proper nouns or possessives to specify family relations.

Examples of use include: Filiae dormiunt. (“The daughters are sleeping.”) Liber filiae est novus. (“The daughter's book is new.”) Donum filiae dedi. (“I gave a gift to the daughter.”) Filiae, venite! (“Daughters, come!”)

Related terms include filia (singular daughter) and filiarum (genitive plural “of the daughters”). The form filiae thus serves multiple grammatical roles in Latin, distinguished by case, number, and punctuation within a sentence.