Etymologically
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climax

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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]

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