Etymologically
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inclinatus

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Forms

inclīnātus (feminine inclīnāta, neuter inclīnātum); comparative inclīnātior; first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is the participle from Latin inclīnō (“to cause to lean, bend”), used as an adjective.[1][2] inclīnō is a compound of in- and ⟨-clīnō⟩, which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kl(e)in-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱl-n(e)-i- (“to lean to, bend”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Cicero,[4] whose verse translation of Aratus has the Ram turned more towards the south wind.[1]

Semantic evolution

Literally it is sloping, bent forward or stooping, as Vitruvius' carvings and Calpurnius' old age leaning on a stick.[1] Livy often uses it of minds or people favourably disposed, ready to believe or inclined to peace or war,[1] and Curtius and Seneca of a natural tendency, to crime or to mildness;[1] Pliny the Elder has colours shading into gold or yellow.[1] Of the voice it is low and deep, as in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, Cicero's Orator and Quintilian.[1] In grammar the TLL notes a use formed to render ἐγκλιτικός (enklitikós), for enclitic words in Priscian.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a constellation turned southward and of a deep voice.[1][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of minds inclined to belief.[1][4]
  • 6th century AD – Priscian, of enclitic words.[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Inclined, sloping; bent forward, stooping.[1]
  2. Turned, facing in a given direction.[1]
  3. Favourably disposed, inclined (to a party or policy).[1]
  4. Having a natural tendency (towards); of colours, shading off into.[1]
  5. Of the voice, low in pitch, deep.[1]
  6. (grammar) Enclitic.[5]

Usage notes

A rare fourth-declension noun inclīnātus, -ūs, in Gellius, is the grammatical inflection or formation of a word.[1][2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften