κλιμακτηρικός

Forms

κλῑμᾰκτηρῐκός (klīmaktērikós) m (feminine κλῑμᾰκτηρῐκή, neuter κλῑμᾰκτηρῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek κλιμακτήρ (klimaktḗr, “rung of a ladder; critical point in life”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][2][3] The noun is from Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ (klîmax, “ladder”), which comes from κλίνω (klínō, “to lean”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Latin writers of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, Pliny the Younger and Aulus Gellius, of the “climacteric year”.^[4][5] The year meant was a critical point in a person's life, set at multiples of seven years.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun κλιμακτήρ (klimaktḗr) meant the rung of a ladder in Euripides and Hippocrates, and in astrology a dangerous point in a person's life, fixed at multiples of seven such as 35, 49 and 63.^[4] The 63rd year was thought the most dangerous of all.^[6]

The adjective belongs to astrology: Vettius Valens has a “climacteric account”, and Ptolemy a “climacteric encounter” of the planets.^[4][7] The Theologumena Arithmeticae also use it of the critical year.^[2]

Latin climactericus gave the English climacteric in the 1620s.^[8] Modern Greek κλιμακτηρικός (klimaktirikós) refers to the climacteric, as in the phrase “climacteric period”, and figuratively means “critical”.^[3][7]

Timeline

• 1st–2nd century AD – Pliny the Younger refers to the climacteric year.^[4][5]
• 2nd century AD – Aulus Gellius writes about the climacteric year, and Vettius Valens and Ptolemy use the word in astrology.^[4][5]
• 1620s – English takes climacteric from Latin.^[8]
• Modern Greek – The word survives for the climacteric period and as “critical”.^[3][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (astrology) Climacteric, belonging to a critical point in human life, especially of a year.^[4][6][9]
2. Critical, dangerous, bringing a change in a person's condition.^[7]

Related words

• κλῖμαξ (klîmax)
• Latin climactericus
• English climacteric

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
4. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
7. ^ a b c d Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli