declinatio

Forms

dēclīnātiō f (genitive dēclīnātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēclīnō (“to turn aside; to inflect”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] In its grammatical sense it is a calque of Ancient Greek ἔγκλισις (énklisis).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,^[4] who uses it of a slight movement aside: in the first speech against Catiline he recalls how many thrusts he had escaped parvā quādam dēclīnātiōne, by a small swerve of the body.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Cicero also uses it of the swerve of atoms in Epicurean physics,^[2][6] of a turning away from something, avoidance, as opposed to desire,^[2][6] and in rhetoric of a brief digression.^[2][6] Vitruvius and Columella use it of the slope of the sky or earth and so of a region or latitude.^[2][7] Varro and Quintilian use it in grammar for the change of form of a word, inflection, including declension and conjugation, and Varro also for derivation.^[2][5]

In medieval Latin it also means decline or weakening.^[8] Medieval writers in Britain use it of decay, of the setting of the sun, of the abating of a fever and, in astronomy, of declination.^[9] English took declination from Old French and directly from Latin in the late 14th century;^[10] declension, perhaps through French, followed in the 15th.^[10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a swerve of the body and of atoms, and of avoidance.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of grammatical inflection.^[2][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of the declension of Greek nouns.^[2][5][4]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as declination.^[10]
• mid-15th century – English declension appears in grammar.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A turning aside, swerve, deviation; a leaning of the body.^[2][6]
2. A bend or slope.^[2][7]
3. The slope of the heavens; a region, latitude.^[2][6]
4. Avoidance; aversion.^[2][7]
5. (rhetoric) A brief digression.^[2][6]
6. Divergence, variation.^[2][5]
7. (grammar) Inflection, declension; an inflected form.^[2][5]
8. (Medieval Latin) Decline, weakening.^[8][9]
9. (Medieval Latin, astronomy) Declination.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c 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 c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com