clavus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkɫaː.wʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈklaː.vus]^[1]

Forms

clāvus m (genitive clāvī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *klāwo- (“closing, barring”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“to close”).^[2][1] It comes from the same base as clāvis “key”, and since clāva “club” exists too, de Vaan thinks Proto-Italic *klāwo- may have been an adjective “closing off”.^[2] Umbrian klavlaf, a sacrificial instrument, may be related.^[2] Cognate with Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “key”) and Old Church Slavonic ключь (ključĭ, “key”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it, in a slave's threat to have more nails than a warship.^[4][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a nail or rivet, as Caesar's fastening with nails, and clāvō trabālī fīgere “to fix with a beam nail” was to make firm.^[4][7] Ennius, Cicero and Virgil use it of a tiller.^[4] It was the purple stripe on a tunic, narrow for knights and broad for senators, and in medicine a callus or wart.^[4][1]

In medieval Latin it was a weight for wool, a clove.^[8] Old French clou de girofle “nail of the gillyflower” gave English clove, named from the shape of the bud.^[9] It survives as Italian chiodo, French clou and Spanish clavo.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of nails.^[4][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of a tiller.^[4][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar fastens beams with nails.^[7][6]
• late 15th century – English clove (the spice) is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nail, rivet.^[4][5]
2. A tiller, helm.^[4][1]
3. A purple stripe on the tunic of knights (narrow) or senators (broad).^[4][1]
4. A callus, wart or tumour.^[4][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) A weight of wool.^[8]

Word family

• angusticlāvius
• clāvārius
• clāvō
• clāvulus
• conclāvō
• *inclāvō
• lāticlāvus
• praeclāuium

Related words

• clāvārium
• clāvātus
• clāvulāris
• conclāvātus
• lāticlāviālis
• lāticlāvium
• lāticlāvius
• claudō
• clāvis
• clāva
• English clove

Usage notes

Isidore defines it as the bar by which the rudder is steered, citing Ennius.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).