Etymologically
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culmen

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkʊɫ.mɛn][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkul.men][1]

Forms

culmen n (genitive culminis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is a contracted doublet of columen “top, summit”, from Proto-Italic *kolamen, from Proto-Indo-European *kelH- (“to rise, be tall”), the root of celsus and collis.[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant the top of a building, a roof, as in Virgil, the ridge pole, as in Vitruvius, and the highest point of anything, a summit, peak, as Caesar's heights of the Alps.[2][5] It meant the highest point of the sky, the zenith, as in Cicero, and figuratively an exalted position, the peak of one's fortunes, as in Seneca, and a leader.[2] Döderlein says culmen is the uppermost line of a roof, fastīgium its highest point where the slopes meet.[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant top, summit, culmination.[7] In Medieval Latin it meant royal or imperial dignity, a roof, a treetop and the vault of heaven.[8][9] It survives in Spanish cumbre, Portuguese cume and Italian colmo.[1] English culminate comes from its Late Latin verb culmināre in the 1640s, first in astronomy.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the zenith.[2][4]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of the heights of the Alps.[5][4]
  • 1640s – English culminate is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A roof; the ridge pole.[2]
  2. A summit, peak.[2]
  3. The zenith.[2]
  4. (figurative) A height, the peak (of fortune); a leader.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Royal dignity, sovereignty.[8]

Word family

  • culminālis
  • columen
  • celsus
  • fastīgium
  • English culminate

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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  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
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com