Etymologically
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clima

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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]
  • 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