gradatio Latin · revision 10174

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Rhetorica ad Herennium|origins=ine-pro *gʰredʰ-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ɡraˈdaː.ti.oː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ɡraˈdat.t͡si.o]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''gradātiō''' ''f'' (genitive gradātiōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is from [[gradus]] “step” with [[m|la|-tiō]], through ⟨gradātus⟩ “stepped”.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces ⟨gradus⟩ and [[gradior]] to Proto-Italic ⟨*grad-(e)i-⟩, [[ine-pro|*g(ʰ)r̥d(ʰ)-(e)i-]], cognate with [[sga|ingrennid|alt=in·greinn|t=chases]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest citation is the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'', as a figure of speech.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates it 86/82 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==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.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ British Medieval Latin used it for a series of steps, a ladder, also figuratively, and glossed it as ''climax''.^(DMLBS) It survives as Italian ''gradazione'' and Spanish ''gradación''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 86/82 BC – The ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of tiers.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A flight of steps, [[m|en|tier|alt=tiers]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' A [[m|en|climax]], [[m|en|gradation]].^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[gradus]]

+ * [[gradior]]

+ * [[gradātim]]

+ * [[en|gradation]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}