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Thus did they used to call Gaius, the emperor of the Romans, since from early boyhood he grew up spending most of his time in the military camps and would wear soldiers' shoes. So from the "caligae"[1] they named him Caligula.[2]
Or Gaius [was called] Caligula on account of his birth in the military camps; so says Aelian in his work On Divine Influences.[3]

*kalligo/las: ou(/tws e)kalei=to *ga/i+os, o( basileu\s *(rwmai/wn, e)peidh\ e)k mikra=s h(liki/as ta\ polla\ e)n tw=| stratope/dw| e)tre/feto kai\ toi=s stratiwtikoi=s e)xrh=to u(podh/masin. e)k tw=n kalli/gwn ou)=n *kalligou/lan au)to\n w)no/masan. h)\ *kalligo/las o( *ga/i+os, dia\ to\ e)n stratope/dw| gennhqh=nai: w(/s fhsin *ai)liano\s e)n tw=| *peri\ qei/wn e)nargeiw=n.

Gaius Caesar or Caligula was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 to 41 AD. See Garrett Ragan's DIR article at web address 1 for more (and OCD(4) s.v. Gaius (1)).
For more on Caligula in the Suda see gamma 11 and gamma 12. The following entries also mention him: alpha 3198, alpha 3420, delta 1351, iota 503, phi 448.
[1] Soldiers' boots or sandals.
[2] Literally "Little boot".
[3] Aelian fr. 24 Domingo-Forasté (24 Hercher). Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 4.148D [4.29 Kaibel], seems to have employed Aelian here, since he uses the same wording and word order (dia\ to\ e)n stratope/dw| gennhqh=nai) when discussing Caligula’s birth in the camps. Eustathius (12th century) appears to adopt the story from Athenaeus in his commentary on Homer, Iliad (2.810). For Latin sources which Aelian may have known, see Tacitus Annales 1.41 (web address 2); Suetonius, Caligula 8.1 and 9.1 (web address 3); Seneca the Younger, Dialogi 2.18.4.

R. Hercher, ed. 1866 (repr. 1971). Claudii Aeliani de natura animalium libri xvii, varia historia, epistolae, fragmenta, vol. 2, Teubner: Lepizig (repr. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt: Graz)

Catharine Roth (cosmetics, status) on 22 September 2005@17:43:21.
Catharine Roth (added links) on 23 September 2005@01:17:54.
David Whitehead (tweaked headword and translation; small additions to notes) on 25 September 2005@04:56:03.
David Whitehead (cosmetics; raised status) on 24 January 2013@08:42:37.
Catharine Roth (updated reference, upgraded links) on 23 June 2013@01:48:54.
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Catharine Roth (tweaked note) on 28 November 2014@23:40:50.
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