Etymologically
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clavus

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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
  • 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).