climax

Pronunciation

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

Forms

clīmax f (genitive clīmacis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ (klîmax, “ladder, staircase; climax”),^[1][2][3] from κλίνω (klínō, “to lean”).^[1] Köbler and Etymonline trace it to Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to lean”).^[3][4] The native Latin terms were gradātiō and ascensus.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucilius uses it, in a fragment quoted by Servius.^[5][3] Köbler dates Lucilius c. 180–102 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It was a rhetorical figure, a gradual increase in the force of expression.^[2][5] Quintilian still treats it as a Greek word, rendering it gradātiō, while Martianus Capella uses it as Latin.^[2][6] Isidore defines it as a gradation in which each clause begins where the last ended.^[7][5]

In medieval Latin it was also a ladder-like part of a cart, a figure of rhetoric and a compound remedy made in graded parts.^[8] Aldhelm says the Greek grammarians call Paul's linked argument in Romans a climax.^[9] English climax is recorded in the 1580s in the rhetorical sense.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.^[5][3]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian treats it as Greek.^[2][3]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore defines it.^[7][3]
• 1580s – English climax is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rhetoric) A climax, gradation.^[2][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) A ladder-like part of a cart; a compound remedy.^[8]

Related words

• clīmactēricus
• English climax

Usage notes

Clīmax was also the name of a mountain in Media, in Pliny the Elder.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press