clau

clau¹ key

Etymology tree of clau¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin clāvis

Catalan clau

French clé

Italian chiave

Romanian cheie

Spanish llave

From the same root · clau¹

English conclave ← clāvis

Latin clāvicula ← clāvis

Latin clāviger ← clāvis

Latin conclāve ← clāvis

Pronunciation

• Balearic, Central, Northern, Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈklaw]^[1]

Forms

clau f (plural claus)^[1] The DCVB records the pronunciations [kláw] and [kʎáw].^[2] The Mallorcan form clauber “key ring” is recorded in 1565.^[3]

Etymology

The word for the key is inherited from Latin clāvis (“key, bar, bolt”).^{[3][2][4][5][1]} The same Latin word is Occitan clau, Spanish llave, Portuguese chave, French clef, Italian chiave and Romanian cheie.^[6][1] The initial /kl/ survives in Upper Aragon, [kláu], and in the Castilian-speaking dialect of Anna, [klábe].^[3]

The Latin noun goes back to *klāwis (“bar, bolt”), from *kleh₂u- (“to close”).^[7][1] Its cognates include Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “bar, bolt; key”) and Old Church Slavonic ключь (ključĭ, “key”).^[7][1] The Latin word for a nail, clāvus, comes from the same base; see the second word below.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines gives as the first records Jaume I, Llull and the Costums de Tortosa.^[3] The Costums de Tortosa, which CICA dates to 1272, say that the veguer must put an offender dins clau, “under lock”.^[3][8] In Llull's Amic e Amat the keys of the doors of love are gilded with cares, sighs and tears.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

From the key of a door the word passed to whatever controls an entry: a 15th-century document calls a castle and town clau e entrada de Cathalunya, “key and gateway of Catalonia”.^[10] It named the keystone of an arch or vault, in Igualada in 1438 and in Valencia in 1435, and the clef in a treatise on plainsong.^[10] Eiximenis says of greedy eaters that they would eat Saint Peter's keys.^[3]

Its derivatives include clavari, the official who kept the keys of an institution, recorded from 1342 and mainly Valencian and Balearic, and clauer “key ring”, earlier claver (documents of 1331 and 1412).^[3][4] Coromines recommended portaclaus to Fabra in 1930, to avoid the Castilianism llavero.^[3] The DIEC2 adds the figurative senses “what one must know to understand something” and the invariable adjectival use “essential” (paraules clau), the tools called clau (clau anglesa), and the signs of musical notation.^[11]

Timeline

• 1272 – dins clau “under lock” in the Costums de Tortosa.^[3][8]
• 1275–1299 – clau in the Roussillon Vides de sants.^[8]
• 1331 – claver “key ring”.^[3]
• 1342 – clavari “keeper of the keys”.^[3][4]
• 1435 – the keystones of a vault in Valencia.^[10]
• 1565 – Mallorcan clauber.^[3]
• 1930 – Coromines proposes portaclaus to Fabra.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A key for a lock: No trobo la clau del garatge.^[11][5][1]
2. (figurative) What controls an entry or a territory: Aquell pas era la clau de la vall.^[11][5][10]
3. What one must know to understand something; the key to a code or a problem.^[11]
4. (music) A clef.^[11][10]
5. (architecture) A keystone; the central boss of a volta.^[11][5][1]
6. A brace, the sign { or }.^[11][1]
7. A tool for tightening or loosening: a wrench or spanner; the handle of a tap.^[11][2]
8. A key of a wind instrument, which opens and closes a hole.^[11]

Adjective

1. (invariable) Key, essential: un moment clau de la negociació.^[11][1]

Word family

• clauer
• clavari
• clavaria
• claver
• portaclaus
• autoclau

clau² nail

Etymology tree of clau²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin clāvus

Catalan clau

French clou

Italian chiodo

Spanish clavo

From the same root · clau²

Latin angusticlāvius ← clāvus

Latin clāvō ← clāvus

Latin lāticlāvius ← clāvus

Pronunciation

• Balearic, Central, Northern, Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈklaw]^[1]

Forms

clau m (plural claus)^[1] The DCVB records the pronunciations [kláw] and [kʎáw].^[12] In Roussillon the diminutive clavell competed with clau in the sense “nail” in the medieval texts.^[13]

Etymology

The word for the nail is inherited from Latin clāvus (“nail, peg”).^{[13][12][4][5][1]} The same Latin word is Occitan clau, Spanish clavo, Portuguese cravo, French clou and Italian chiodo.^[14][1][15]

De Vaan derives the Latin noun from the same base as clāvis (“key”), as *klāwo- (“closing, barring”), perhaps first an adjective “which closes off”.^[7] Wiktionary takes it back to *kleh₂wos.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines puts the first records in the 14th century, in Llull and the Consolat de mar;^[13][10] Faraudo dates the Llull passage, from the Llibre de contemplació, to 1272.^[13][10] There Llull speaks of the nails that opened the flesh of Christ.^[10] Another passage of Llull explains that the shape of a ship is kept by the nails that hold its timbers together.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Nails were important to shipbuilders, and the Consolat de mar uses one as a measure: a sailor must be paid even if there is only a nail to pay him with.^[13][10] From this came the proverbial no valdria un clau “it would not be worth a nail”, already in Ausiàs March, and no tenir un clau “to be penniless”.^[13][11] Faraudo also records the senses “canine tooth” (in a Valencian proclamation) and “penis” (in Roig's Spill, 1460).^[10]

The diminutive clavell gave the names of the spice clove and of the carnation, recorded in 1398 in Turmeda.^[13] Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà record the figurative “sharp pain, grief”, which survives in ésser una cosa un clau per a algú.^[16][11] The DIEC2 also lists a tumour on the hoof, the tusk, and the vulgar sense “a fuck”.^[11]

Timeline

• 1272 – Llull's Llibre de contemplació speaks of the nails of the Cross.^[10]
• 1301 – the Consolat de mar pays a sailor with a nail.^[10]
• 1385 – claus aguts de mig cayrat, nails of a certain kind, in a Palma document.^[17]
• 1398 – clavells “carnations” in Turmeda.^[13]
• 1460 – Roig's Spill uses clau for the penis.^[10]
• 1491 – clau barquerol, a boat nail.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nail: Penja el quadre d'aquell clau.^[11][5][1]
2. (figurative) A great grief or affliction.^[11][16]
3. (in negative phrases) The smallest amount of money: no tenir un clau.^[18][11][19]
4. A tusk or canine tooth, especially of a boar or an elephant.^[11][5][1]
5. (veterinary) A tumour on the hoof of an ungulate.^[11]
6. (surgery) A metal pin for fixing fractures.^[5]
7. (vulgar) An act of sexual intercourse.^[11][5][1]

Word family

• clavar
• desclavar
• reclavar
• clavat
• clavaó
• clavell
• clavellina