clivus

Pronunciation

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

Forms

clīvus m (genitive clīvī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kleiwo-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱloy-wo- (“slope”) or *ḱley-wo- “sloping”, from the root *ḱley- “to lean”, as in -clīnāre.^[2][1][3] Cognate with Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍅 (hlaiw, “grave mound”), Old High German hlēo (“grave mound”) and Lithuanian šleĩvas (“bow-legged”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, where a slave threatens to drive a man uphill with the spur.^[2][3] Cato has a neuter plural clīva.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was sloping ground, a slope or incline, up or down, and Caesar speaks of easing a slope.^[3][6] With an adjective it named streets in Rome that climbed a hill, as the Clīvus Publicius, and alone it was the Clīvus Capitōlīnus.^[3] Vitruvius uses it of a ramp in a house.^[3]

In medieval Britain, under the influence of Middle English clif, it also meant a cliff.^[7] Its adjectives dēclīvis and acclīvis gave English declivity and English acclivity in the 1610s.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of driving someone uphill.^[3][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses the neuter plural clīva.^[2][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar speaks of easing a slope.^[6][5]
• 1610s – English declivity is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slope, incline, hill.^[3]
2. A street climbing a hill; the Clīvus Capitōlīnus.^[3]
3. A ramp (in a house).^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin) A cliff.^[7]

Related words

• cliēns
• clītella
• English declivity

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes collis, a hill rising steeply from a plain, from clīvus, a gently rising slope.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper