declivitas

Forms

dēclīvitās f (genitive dēclīvitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēclīvis (“sloping downwards”) + -tās.^[2][1][3] The adjective is formed from dē- and clīvus (“slope”),^[4] which de Vaan derives from Proto-Italic *kle/oiwo- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱloi-uo- (“slope, hill”) or *ḱlei-u̯o- (“sloping”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Caesar has it in the Gallic War, of the steep downward gradient of the ground.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It remained a rare word for a downward slope.^[3] Calcidius contrasted it with prōclīvitās,^[7] and Ammianus Marcellinus used it of the slope of a mountain itself.^[7][8] Medieval writers used it of slopes and gradients and, by extension, of depth.^[9] English borrowed it in the 1610s, through French, as declivity.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of a falling gradient.^[2][6]
• c. 300 AD – Calcidius sets it against proclivitas.^[7][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of a mountain slope.^[7][6]
• 1610s – English borrows it, through French, as declivity.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A downward slope, declivity, falling gradient.^[2][10]
2. (Late Latin) The slope of a mountain.^[7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) Depth.^[9]

Related words

• clīvus
• English declivity

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press