elevo

Forms

ēlevō (present infinitive ēlevāre, perfect active ēlevāvī, supine ēlevātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- (“out, up”) + levō¹ (“to lighten, raise”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan derives levō¹ from levis¹ (“light”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *leχu- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁legʷʰ-u- (“light”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἐλαχύς (elakhús, “small”) and Lithuanian leñgvas (“light”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records the figurative sense from Cicero and Livy, and perhaps already from Ennius, and the literal “lift up” from Caesar and Vitruvius.^[3] Cicero has it of lessening grief and of making light of the causes of suspicion.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense, to lift up, is rare in classical Latin: Caesar uses it of raising the top storey of a structure.^[2][6] Much commoner is to lighten or relieve, and, as Lewis & Short explain from the lighter scale of a balance rising, to make light of, belittle or weaken, as Cicero has of clearness weakened by argument and Livy of playing down an informer.^[6][2] The TLL notes that Christian writers liked the literal sense, perhaps taking it over from allevō and sublevō;^[3] the Vulgate has the ark lifted up by the waters.^[6] Stelten glosses it “elevate, raise, lift up”.^[7] English elevate comes from its participle and dates from the late 15th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of lessening and of making light of things.^[2][6][3][8]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar, of raising a storey.^[2][6][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of belittling an informer.^[6][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate, of the ark lifted up.^[6][8]
• late 15th century – English elevate is formed from its participle.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lift up, raise.^[2][6][1][7]
2. To lessen, diminish; to relieve, alleviate.^[2][6][1]
3. To make light of, belittle, disparage.^[2][6][1]

Word family

• ēlevātiō
• ēlevātor

Related words

• levō¹
• levis¹
• allevō
• sublevō
• English elevate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de