Etymologically
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arx

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈarks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈarks][1]

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]

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