Etymologically
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gradus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɡra.dʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɡraː.dus][1]

Forms

gradus m (genitive gradūs); fourth declension[1] Old forms are a genitive graduis in Varro, a dative gradu in Lucilius, an ablative grado and an accusative plural grados in Pacuvius and Vitruvius; medieval texts write gratus.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *graðus, from the root Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ- (“to walk, go”), and belongs with the verb gradior “to step”.[1][5][2][6] Georges and Gaffiot derive it directly from the verb, and Lewis and Short compare a Sanskrit root “to go”.[7][8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius,[4] who has gradum proferre pedum, “to advance a step”,[3] and Plautus uses it of walking and of a pace.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant a step or pace, a walking pace as opposed to a run, and a unit of length of two and a half feet; then a firm footing (gradu pulsae, driven from their stand) and the position of an object.[2][3] Concretely it was a step or stair, as in “the steps of the temple of Concord”, a rung of a ladder, a tier of seats in a theatre, a projecting edge, a tier in a hairstyle, a level reached in trenching and a division in geometry.[2]

Figuratively it was a step in a process (per gradus, by degrees), a step in an argument, a stage of life, a degree of the musical scale, a degree of kinship, a place in the order of succession under a will, a rank in the scale of dignity, and a degree of quality or size.[2][3] Medieval Latin added the raised part of a church before the altar, the gradual psalms (canticum graduum), a harbour, a court rank, an ecclesiastical order, ordination, the priesthood, the monastic state and the academic degree.[9][4]

It survives as Italian and Spanish grado, Portuguese grau and French grade,[1] and a Vulgar Latin compound *degradus gave Old French degré and English degree (c. 1200), while grade came through French in the 1510s.[5]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of a step.[3][4]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of pace and gait.[2][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of stages of growth and of degrees of size.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the steps of a temple, of steps in an argument and of senatorial rank.[2][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of degrees of kinship.[2][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of tiers in a hairstyle.[2][4]
  • 519 – Niermeyer's earliest medieval citation.[4]
  • c. 1200 – English Degree enters English from Old French degré.[5]
  • 1510s – English Grade is borrowed into English through French.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A step, a pace; a walking pace; a unit of length.[2][3]
  2. A firm footing, a stance; the position of an object.[2]
  3. A step, a stair; a rung; a tier of seats; a projecting edge; a tier of hair.[2][3]
  4. (geometry) A division, a degree.[2]
  5. A step or stage in a process; a step in an argument; a stage of life.[2]
  6. (music) A degree of the scale, an interval.[2]
  7. A degree of kinship; a place in the order of succession.[2]
  8. A rank; a degree of quality, size or intensity, a grade.[2][3]
  9. (Medieval Latin) The raised part of a church before the altar; the gradual psalms; a harbour; an ecclesiastical order; the priesthood; an academic degree.[9][4]

Word family

  • gradātus
  • congradus
  • gradalis
  • gradārius
  • gradilis
  • praegradō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes gradus, the step as taken, from gressus, the step being taken, and passus, a measured step that serves as a unit.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper