Etymologically
Log in

flexus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 18:16. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

flexus1 bent

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɫɛk.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈflɛk.sus][1]

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

  1. Bent, curved, twisting.[2][3]
  2. Of language, tortuous, obscure.[2]
  3. Of the voice, modulated; in grammar, inflected.[2]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) genu flexo, kneeling.[5]

flexus2 bend, turn

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɫɛk.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈflɛk.sus][1]

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

  1. A bending, curving; the rounding of a turning post.[2][3]
  2. A turning aside, swerve; a turn of a road or river.[2][3][1]
  3. A bend, curve, angle.[2][3][1]
  4. A turning point; the end of a season.[2][1]
  5. Modulation of the voice; in grammar, inflection.[2][1]

Word family

  • flexiloquus
  • flexuōsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de