clima

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈklɪ.ma]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkliː.ma]^[1]

Forms

clima n (genitive climatis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κλίμα (klíma, “slope; region, zone”), from κλίνω (klínō, “to slope, incline”).^[2][1][3] Köbler traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to lean”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Columella, of a measure of land.^[2] Köbler's first source is Vitruvius; he dates Columella in the 1st century AD.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Columella it meant a measure of land, a square plot of sixty feet a side.^[2][5] In Pliny the Elder it meant the slope of the earth's surface due to latitude, a zone, and in later writers such as Tertullian and Martianus Capella a region, a clime.^[2][6][5]

Medieval Latin used it for a quarter of the heavens, geographical latitude, a zone of the earth, and climate.^[7] It was borrowed into Italian and Spanish as clima, and through Old French climat it gave English climate in the late 14th century, “a zone of latitude”; English clime came in the 1540s.^[1][3]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it.^[4]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a measure of land.^[2][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of latitude.^[2][4]
• late 14th century – English climate is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A square measure of land.^[2]
2. The slope of the earth due to latitude; a zone, clime.^[2][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Latitude; climate.^[7]

Related words

• climacis
• English climate
• English clime

References

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