Etymology and origin of the Latin word flexus
flexus1 bent
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 81–43 BC, Cicero
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Italic (*flek-t-)
Etymology tree of flexus1
Pronunciation
Forms
flexus (feminine flexa, neuter flexum); first/second-declension adjective[2]
Etymology
The adjective “bent” is the perfect passive participle from Latin flectō (“to bend”).[2][3] De Vaan traces flectō to Proto-Italic *flek-t-, with a suffix ⟨-t-⟩ perhaps added on the model of plectō (“to plait”) and nectō (“to tie”); none of the possible roots has obvious cognates in other Indo-European languages.[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
Its first example in the OLD is in Cicero's Aratea, where the Dragon makes bent coils of its body.[2]
Semantic evolution
It is used in the senses of the verb, especially bent, curved or twisting.[2] Of language it is tortuous or obscure, as Seneca's god of Delphi hiding secrets in twisted riddles.[2] Of the voice it means modulated, with a rise and fall of tone, as in Quintilian, and in grammar inflected.[2] In Church Latin genu flexo is “with knee bent”, kneeling.[5]
Timeline
- 81–43 BC – Cicero of the Dragon's coils.[2][6]
- 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of riddling words.[2][6]
- c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of a modulated voice.[2][6]
Meanings
Adjective
flexus2 bend, turn
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 81–43 BC, Cicero
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Italic (*flek-t-)
Etymology tree of flexus2
Pronunciation
Forms
flexus m (genitive flexūs); fourth declension[1]
Etymology
The noun “bend, turn” is from Latin flectō (“to bend”) + -tus, a noun of action.[2][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
Its first examples in the OLD are in Cicero, of the winding passages of the ears and of a turning off a road.[2]
Semantic evolution
It means the act of bending or curving, of curling the hair and of rounding the turning post in a race, and the quality of being bent, as of a statue in Quintilian.[2] It is a change of course, a swerve, as of an eel in Ovid, and the turn of a road or river.[2][3] Concretely it is a bend, curve or angle.[2][3]
Figuratively it is a turning point: Cicero speaks of a young man's reputation faltering at the turning post of life, and it is used of the sun at the end of a season.[2] Quintilian uses it for the point where one clause ends and another begins, and Seneca for the modulation of the voice.[2] Wiktionary also gives a transition or change, and inflection in grammar.[1]
Timeline
- 81–43 BC – Cicero of the winding passages of the ears and a turn in a road.[2][6]
- 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the turns of an eel.[2][6]
- 34–62 AD – Persius of rounding the turning post.[2][6]
- 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of modulation of the voice.[2][6]
Meanings
Noun
- A bending, curving; the rounding of a turning post.[2][3]
- A turning aside, swerve; a turn of a road or river.[2][3][1]
- A bend, curve, angle.[2][3][1]
- A turning point; the end of a season.[2][1]
- Modulation of the voice; in grammar, inflection.[2][1]
Word family
- flexiloquus
- flexuōsus
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry
“Flexus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/flexus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.
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