arx

Forms

arx f (genitive arcis); third declension^[1] Varro spells it arcs.^[2]

Etymology

De Vaan connects it with arceō (“to contain, keep out”), arca (“chest”) and Oscan ⟨*trēb-ark-o-⟩ “house-builder”, and takes it as a root noun inherited from Proto-Italic *ark- (“a building”), perhaps inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)r(ḱ)-s (“container”): the root ⟨*ark-⟩ was used of buildings as well as of small containers.^[3][2][1] arceō is cognate with Hittite ḫark- (“to hold, have”) and Ancient Greek ἀρκέω (arkéō, “to ward off”).^[3] Varro derived it from the verb “to keep off”, because the citadel is the strongest part of a city, from which an enemy can most easily be kept away.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[3] Köbler first records it in Cicero,^[5] who says nostrī ōlim urbe reliquā captā arcem tamen retinuērunt, “our ancestors, when the rest of the city was taken, still held the citadel”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Arx is the fortified height of a city, “a citadel”; with portae it is a tower over a gate (Propertius).^[2][4][1] A whole city seen as a stronghold or base is an arx, and figuratively it is a bulwark (Cicero calls Rome arcem omnium gentium, “the citadel of all nations”), and a refuge or sanctuary.^[2][1] The proverb arcem facere ē cloācā, “to make a citadel out of a sewer”, means to make too much of something.^[2] It is also a hilltop or peak, as in septem arcēs, the seven hills of Rome, the height of heaven where gods live (caelī arx), and the highest part of anything.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “throne, fortress, castle, refuge, stronghold”.^[6] In Medieval Latin it can mean “archive” and, by confusion with Greek ἀρχή (arkhḗ), “exalted dignity”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro: arx ab arcendō.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: arcem omnium gentium.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil: mōlīrīque arcem, “to build the citadel”.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A citadel, stronghold, fortress.^[2][4][1][6]
2. A tower (over a gate).^[2]
3. (figurative) A bulwark, defence; a refuge.^[2][1][6]
4. A hilltop, peak;^[2][1] septem arcēs: the seven hills of Rome.^[2]
5. caelī arx: the height of heaven.^[2]
6. The highest part (of something).^[2][1]
7. (Medieval Latin) An archive; exalted dignity.^[7]

Related words

• arca
• arceō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill