Etymologically
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elevatio

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Forms

ēlevātiō f (genitive ēlevātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is a noun of action from Latin ēlevō (“to lift up; to make light of”), formed with the suffix -tiō.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Quintilian (c. 35–95/96)[5] is the first to use it, as a term of rhetoric for disparagement: he speaks of the disparaging expressions in the preface of the speech for Quintus Ligarius.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Fronto used it for the lightening of a load.[2] The sense of a lifting up, raising is Late Latin: the Vulgate has ēlevātiō manuum for the lifting up of the hands in prayer.[6][7] As a term of grammar it named the raising of the voice on a syllable, the ἄρσις, opposed to its lowering, in Martianus Capella and Isidore of Seville.[6][7][8]

In Church Latin it was used for the Ascension of Christ, for praise, for conceit, for upbringing and for enthronement.[9] Medieval writers also used it in astronomy, in medicine for a dilation or swelling, and for the elevation of the Host after the consecration.[10][11] In Poland it also named the raising of a new saint's relics onto the altar.[12] English elevation (late 14th century) comes partly from it and partly from Old French.[13]

Timeline

  • c. 35–95/96 – Quintilian uses it for disparagement.[2][5]
  • 100–170 – Fronto uses it for the lightening of a load.[2][5]
  • 390–406 – The Vulgate uses it for the lifting up of the hands.[6][5]
  • 5th century – Martianus Capella uses it for the raising of the voice.[6][5]
  • late 14th century – Borrowed into English as elevation.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (rhetoric) disparagement, an ironical form of praise.[2][6][8]
  2. A lightening (of a load).[2]
  3. (Late Latin) A lifting up, raising.[6][7]
  4. (grammar) The raising of the voice on a syllable, arsis.[6][7]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The Ascension of Christ.[9]
  6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Praise, exaltation; also conceit.[9][14]
  7. (Medieval Latin) The elevation of the Host after the consecration.[10][11]
  8. (Medieval Latin) Enthronement.[9]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ a b 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
  11. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  12. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  14. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson