claudo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkɫau̯.doː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈklaːu̯.do]^[1]

Forms

claudō (present infinitive claudere, perfect active clausī, supine clausum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *klaud-e/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u-d- (“to shut”), from the root of clāvis “key” and clāvus “nail”.^[2] De Vaan allows that it may instead be a derivative of a *d-stem of those nouns.^[2] Cognate with Ancient Greek κλείω (kleíō, “to shut”) and Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “bar, key”), and perhaps Old High German sliozan (“to close”).^[1][3] The TLL calls the origin not quite clear; it takes clūdō as the original form, with the ⟨au⟩ taken over from clāvis.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan notes that the simple verb is first found in Cato, though Plautus already has compounds.^[2] Cato says dogs should be shut up by day.^[4] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to shut doors and gates, to close a building or a container, to close the eyes, especially in death, and to close a route or exit.^[4] It also meant to shut people or animals in, to stop a flow or the breath, to keep thoughts secret, to surround or hide something, and in war to blockade a place.^[4] Figuratively it meant to limit or to end something.^[1]

In compounds the form is -clūdō, as in conclūdō, exclūdō and inclūdō.^[2][6] Its participle clausus gave Old French clos and English close (c. 1200), and the noun clausula “end” led to English clause.^[6] It also survives in Italian chiudere.^[1]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato says dogs should be shut up by day.^[4][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro advises keeping doors and windows shut.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of closing the sea exits.^[4][5]
• c. 1200 – English close is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To close, shut (doors, gates, a building, a container, the eyes).^[4]
2. To block (an exit or approach).^[4]
3. To shut up, confine (people, animals).^[4]
4. To stop (a flow, the breath); to keep (thoughts) secret.^[4]
5. To surround, cover, hide; to bury.^[4]
6. (military) To blockade, hem in.^[4]
7. To limit; to end, finish.^[1]

Word family

• circumclūdō
• claustrum
• clausūra
• clūsāris
• clūsilis
• clūsor
• conclūdō
• dēclūdō
• disclūdō
• exclūdō
• extracludo
• inclūdō

Related words

• claustellum
• claustra
• claustrārius
• clāvis
• clāvus
• English close
• English clause

Usage notes

A different verb claudō (also claudeō) “to limp”, from claudus “lame”, is used mostly figuratively, of things that go badly.^[7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press