Etymologically
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ascendo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [asˈkɛn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aʃˈʃɛn.do][1]

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

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