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declivis

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word declivis

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 50 BC, Caesar
Ultimate origin
Proto-Italic (*kle/oiwo-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈkliː.wɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈkliː.vis][1]

Forms

dēclīvis (neuter dēclīve, comparative dēclīvior); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from dē- (“down”) and clīvus (“slope, hill”) with the adjective ending ⟨-is⟩, like acclīvis and prōclīvis.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces clīvus to Proto-Italic *kle/oiwo- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱloi-uo- (“slope, hill”) or Proto-Indo-European *ḱlei-u̯o- (“sloping”), with cognates such as Lithuanian šleĩvas (“bow-legged”) and Old High German hlēo (“grave mound”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Caesar,[5] who in the Gallic War describes a hill sloping evenly from the top down to the river Sabis.[6]

Semantic evolution

It is used of ground that slopes downwards: Caesar has places sloping and steep, and the neuter dēclīve as a noun for a slope;[6] Sallust, Horace and Ovid use it too.[6] Lewis & Short note it is frequent in historians and poets but perhaps not in Cicero or Virgil.[6] Of things that move it means falling: Ovid has rivers running downhill and Lucan their downward course,[2][6] and Pliny the Elder has the sun declining towards its setting.[6] Figuratively Ovid speaks of the downhill path of old age, and Pliny the Younger of a woman well on in years, aetāte dēclīvis.[6][2] Arnobius uses it of souls inclined to vice.[6] Manuscripts often confuse it with dēclīnis.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of a sloping hill.[6][5]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of a sloping expanse of land.[6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of rivers and of old age.[2][6]
  • 297–310 AD – Arnobius of souls prone to vice.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Sloping downwards, sloping, shelving.[2][6][1]
  2. Moving downwards, falling;[2][6][1] (of stars, the sun) declining.[2][6][1]
  3. aetāte dēclīvis, well on in years;[2][6] (of the soul) inclined (to vice).[2][6]

Noun

  1. (neuter) A slope, declivity.[6]

Word family

  • dēclīvirōstris
  • indēclīvis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Declivis.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/declivis. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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