clavis
Pronunciation
Forms
clāvis f (genitive clāvis); third declension[1]
Etymology
It is inherited from Proto-Italic *klāwi- (“bar, bolt”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“to close; hook, peg”).[2][1] De Vaan explains both the i-stem clāvis and the o-stem clāvus “nail” as Latin formations from an older noun *klāw-.[2][1] The TLL left open whether it was borrowed from Greek.[3]
Cognate with Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “bar, key”), Mycenaean Greek ka-ra-wi-po-ro (“key-bearer”) and Russian ключ (ključ, “key”).[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is found from Plautus onwards,[2][4] who has someone hand over the keys with “take the keys: if you need anything, help yourself”.[5]
Semantic evolution
It was a door key, and Cato also used it for the bar that turns the screw of a press.[5] To be sub clavi was to be under lock and key, and taking back the keys from a wife (claves adimere) meant divorcing her.[6][7] Tertullian spoke of “the key of knowledge”.[6]
Medieval Latin used it for a lock, for the validation of a document by a seal, for the formula used to work out the dates of movable feasts, and in music for a clef.[8][1] Music theorists also used it for a note, a key of an instrument and a mode.[9] It survives in all the Romance languages, as Romanian cheie, Italian chiave, French clef and Spanish llave.[10][1]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a door key.[5][4]
- 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for the bar of a press.[5][4]
- 81–43 BC – Cicero uses claves adimere for divorcing a wife.[6][4]
- c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian speaks of the key of knowledge.[6][4]
- 1013 – A Catalan charter uses it for a strip of land reaching into a neighbouring estate.[11]
Meanings
Noun
- A key (of a door).[5][12]
- A bar or lever for turning the screw of a press.[5][1]
- A bar, bolt.[6]
- (Medieval Latin) A lock.[8]
- (Medieval Latin) Validation by a seal.[8]
- (Medieval Latin) A formula for finding the dates of movable feasts.[8]
- (Medieval Latin, music) A clef; a note; a key (of an instrument).[8][9]
Word family
- clāvicārius
- clāvichordium
- clāvicula
- clāviger
- clāvile
- conclāve
Related words
- claudō
- claustellum
- claustrārius
- claustrum
- clausula
- clausum
- clausūra
- clausus
- clāvus
- clāva
- English clef
- English conclave
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
- ^ a b Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
- ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
- ^ Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es
- ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press