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gradatio

Etymology and origin of the Latin word gradatio

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Rhetorica ad Herennium
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*gʰredʰ-)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɡraˈdaː.ti.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ɡraˈdat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

gradātiō f (genitive gradātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from gradus “step” with -tiō, through ⟨gradātus⟩ “stepped”.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces ⟨gradus⟩ and gradior to Proto-Italic ⟨*grad-(e)i-⟩, Proto-Indo-European *g(ʰ)r̥d(ʰ)-(e)i-, cognate with Old Irish in·greinn (“chases”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is the Rhetorica ad Herennium, as a figure of speech.[2] Köbler dates it 86/82 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

In rhetoric it was a climax, a series of statements each rising above the last, as in the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero; in Vitruvius a flight of steps or tiers, as in a theatre.[2][6]

British Medieval Latin used it for a series of steps, a ladder, also figuratively, and glossed it as climax.[7] It survives as Italian gradazione and Spanish gradación.[1]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.[6][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of tiers.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A flight of steps, tiers.[2][8]
  2. (rhetoric) A climax, gradation.[2][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Gradatio.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/gradatio. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·