clades

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkɫaː.deːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈklaː.des]^[1]

Forms

clādēs f (genitive clādis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *klādē-, from Proto-Indo-European *klh₂-dʰeh₁- (“beating, destruction”), built on the root *kelh₂- “to beat”.^[2][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek κλάω (kláō, “to break”), Lithuanian kalti (“to beat with a hammer”) and Russian колоть (kolotʹ, “to split, stab”).^[2] Schrijver takes it as an old compound with *dʰeh₁- “to put”, since no other language has the root with a dental.^[2] The OLD compares percellō “to strike down”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.^[2][4] Pacuvius speaks of the disaster discord brings on a household.^[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC and Pacuvius 220–130 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a calamity or disaster of any kind, and especially a military defeat, as Livy's defeat recently suffered at Lake Regillus.^[3] It was also physical destruction and ruin, as Cicero speaks of a ruinous disease fixed in the body, and, of persons, a scourge or pest.^[3]

In Late Latin it was used for a pestilence or plague.^[5] The Appendix Probi rejects the nominative cladis.^[6] It was borrowed as Italian clade, but English clade is a 1957 coinage from Greek kládos “shoot”.^[1][7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[8][4]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius speaks of disaster brought on a household.^[3][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of a defeat at Lake Regillus.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A calamity, disaster.^[3]
2. A military disaster, defeat.^[3]
3. Destruction, ruin.^[3]
4. (of persons) A scourge, pest.^[3]
5. (Late Latin) A plague, pestilence.^[5]

Related words

• calamitās
• percellō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ Appendix Probi, a late antique list of correct and censured Latin word forms ("calida non calda"); ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini IV, Leipzig 1864, 197–199.
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.