Etymologically
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acclivis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [akˈkliː.wɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [akˈkliː.vis][1]

Forms

acclīvis (neuter acclīve); third-declension two-termination adjective[1] A second-declension form acclīvus, -a, -um (also adclīvus) is much rarer;[2][3] Ovid has it.[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + clīvus (“slope”) + -is.[2][1][4][5] De Vaan traces clīvus to Proto-Italic *kle/oiwo- and to Proto-Indo-European *ḱloi-uo- (“slope, hill”) or *ḱlei-u̯o- (“sloping”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucilius, of a racecourse.[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It means sloping upwards:[2][3] Cicero writes to his brother that a stretch of road is very steep (valdē acclīvis),[3] and Caesar describes an approach rising gently (leniter acclīvis).[3] Manilius uses the neuter plural acclīvia as a noun for upward slopes.[2] Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the sense “inclined upward, steep”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a racecourse.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero calls a part of a road very steep.[3][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar has leniter acclīvis, gently rising.[3][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses the form acclīvus.[3][5]
  • 1st century AD – Manilius uses acclīvia for upward slopes.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Sloping upwards, rising, uphill; steep.[2][3][1]

Noun

  1. (neuter plural, acclīvia) Upward slopes.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson