descensus

Forms

dēscēnsus m (genitive dēscēnsūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēscendō (“to descend”) + -tus, a verbal noun of the fourth declension.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Hirtius, Sallust and Varro on.^[4] Köbler's first source is Varro,^[5] who uses it of the bull getting down from the cow after mating.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it rare and note that Cicero and Caesar do not use it.^[3] It meant the act of going down, as in Sallust, and a way down: Hirtius has a steep and difficult descent, Virgil the famous facilis dēscēnsus Avernō, and Pliny the Elder the descent to Jupiter's cave.^[3][6] Manuscripts often spell it discēnsus.^[4]

Later authors widened it: Ammianus uses it of the setting of stars, the commentator Porphyrio of passing to another subject, and Eucherius of a falling away from the faith.^[6] The Vulgate speaks of the descent of the mount.^[3] In medieval Latin it was a voyage down a river, a waterfall, and a stay or lodging owed to a traveller.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a bull getting down after mating.^[2][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of going down.^[3][6][5]
• c. 50 BC – Hirtius uses it of a steep way down.^[3][6][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil writes facilis dēscēnsus Avernō.^[3][6][5]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of the setting of stars.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A descent, a going down; a getting down (from a position).^[2][3]
2. A way down, a descending path.^[3][6]
3. (Late Latin) The setting (of a star); a passing to another subject; a falling away from the faith.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A voyage downstream; a waterfall; a night's lodging.^[7]

Usage notes

Facilis dēscēnsus Avernō, “the descent to Avernus is easy”, from the Aeneid (6.126), became proverbial.^[3][6][1]

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 c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill