ascendo

Forms

ascendō (present infinitive ascendere, perfect active ascendī, supine ascēnsum); third conjugation^[1] It is also spelled adscendō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ad- (“to”) + scandō (“to climb”).^[2][1][4] De Vaan traces scandō to Proto-Italic *skand-e/o- (“to ascend”) and Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump up, ascend”), cognate with Old Irish sceinnid (“to jump”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan's first author is Livius Andronicus, in a tragedy: quī ascendunt altum ocrim, “who climb the high mountain”.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

It is to go up, climb or mount, and in war to scale walls, as Caesar's soldiers who set up ladders.^[2] Of things it is to rise, as Cicero's sun, to mount a platform or bed, and to ascend into heaven.^[2] It is to go on board a ship (Nepos), to mount a horse, and of animals to cover the female (Columella).^[2] Of rivers it is to rise, as Seneca's Nile, and of the voice to grow louder by degrees (Cicero).^[2] Figuratively it is to rise to a high position, as Cicero's men who could not reach the highest place in the state, and to pass through a series of stages; in the jurists ascendentēs are ancestors.^[2] Church Latin uses it simply of going up, rising or growing.^[3][6]

English ascend (late 14th century) comes from it.^[4]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus of climbing a mountain.^[5][2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the sun rising and of rising in the state.^[2][7]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of scaling walls.^[2][7]
• late 14th century – English ascend.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go up, climb, ascend; to scale (walls).^[2][1][6]
2. (of things) To rise; to mount (a platform); caelum ascendere, to ascend to heaven.^[2][1]
3. To embark on (a ship); to mount (a horse); (of animals) to cover.^[2]
4. (of rivers, the voice) To rise, increase.^[2]
5. To rise to, attain (a high position); to pass through (stages); ascendentēs, ancestors.^[2]

Word family

• ascendibilis
• ascensibilis
• ascēnsiō
• ascēnsor
• ascēnsus
• inascensus

Related words

• scandō
• dēscendō
• cōnscendō
• scālae
• English ascend

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de