ascensus

Forms

ascēnsus m (genitive ascēnsūs); fourth declension^[1] The spelling adscensus is also found.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ascendō (“to climb up”) + -tus, a fourth-declension action noun.^[2][4][1] The verb is ad- with scandō (“to climb”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *skand-e/o- (“to ascend”) and Proto-Indo-European *sknd-e/o- (“to jump up, ascend”).^[5] Cognate with Old Irish sceinnid (“to jump”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[6] who in the speech against Piso sets a commander's authority, rather than the rampart of the Alps, against the ascent and crossing of the Gauls.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of climbing up, an ascent, and in war the scaling of walls, as in Livy.^[2][3] It also means a way up, a flight of steps, and so the means of ascent to heaven that Cicero says virtues give to men.^[2] Lucretius uses it of the height of mountains, and Cicero of the many steps in virtue.^[2] Other uses are going on board a ship and an animal's mounting for mating, and Ascensus is named as a god in Varro and Tertullian.^[2][4]

Church Latin glosses it ascent, means of ascent and chariot.^[7] In medieval Latin it can mean sailing up a river.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the crossing of the Alps and of the ascent to heaven.^[2][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the height of mountains.^[2][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of keeping men from climbing up.^[3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of scaling a wall.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An act of climbing up, ascent; the scaling of walls.^[2][3][1]
2. A way up; a flight of steps.^[2][7][1]
3. Height, the distance climbed.^[2]
4. Going on board a ship, embarkation.^[2]
5. An animal's mounting for mating.^[2]
6. A stage, step in a development.^[2]
7. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A chariot.^[7]
8. (Medieval Latin) Sailing up a river.^[8]

Related words

• ascendō
• scandō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 c d 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 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill