legatis

Legatis is the Latin plural form of legatus in the dative and ablative cases. The root legatus means envoy, ambassador, or lieutenant. In Latin, legatus could be a diplomatic envoy charged with carrying messages or a high-ranking military or administrative officer appointed to govern a province on behalf of a magistrate or the emperor. The nominative plural is legati; legatis appears in inscriptions and texts as the indirect object or means/agent in a sentence.

In the Roman Republic and Empire, legates served as deputies and emissaries; in imperial administration, the emperor could appoint legati pro praetore or legati Augusti pro praetorate (and related titles) to oversee provinces or commands. They sometimes exercised broad civil and military authority, depending on the era and the office.

Legatus also became the root for the ecclesiastical term legate in English, used for papal legates or diplomatic representatives of a pope or bishop. The English word legate (singular) derives from Latin legatus, with legates as the common English plural. The Latin form legatis is rarely used outside Latin texts and grammatically corresponds to the dative or ablative plural; it is not a separate title in itself but a grammatical form of legatus.