claviger Latin · revision 36497

+ The OLD distinguishes two adjectives spelled ''clāviger'', one formed from [[clāva]] “club” and one from [[clāvis]] “key”.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ {{homograph|1|club-bearing}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=43 BC–18 AD, Ovid|origins=la clāva, la gerō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkɫaː.wɪ.ɡɛr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈklaː.vi.d͡ʒer]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''clāviger''' (feminine clāvigera, neuter clāvigerum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The club-bearing adjective is [[af|la|clāva|-ger|t1=club, cudgel|t2=bearing]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The second part is from [[m|la|gerō|t=to carry]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Ovid uses it, most often as an epithet of Hercules.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the ''Metamorphoses'' Ovid calls Hercules simply ''clāviger'', “the club-bearer”, and has ''clāvigera prōlēs'' of the robber Periphetes, a son of Vulcan.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) Silius Italicus speaks of the altars of the club-bearing god, Hercules of Gades.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In medieval Latin it was a mace-bearer,^(Niermeyer 1976) and in British sources an officer of a manor or town who carried a mace.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of Hercules and of Periphetes.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus uses it of Hercules of Gades.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1286 – An English manor account pays a mace-bearer.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Carrying a [[m|en|club]]; especially as an [[m|en|epithet]] of [[m|en|Hercules]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|mace-bearer]].^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS)

+

+ {{homograph|2|key-bearing}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=43 BC–18 AD, Ovid|origins=la clāvis, la gerō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkɫaː.wɪ.ɡɛr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈklaː.vi.d͡ʒer]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''clāviger''' ''m'' (genitive clāvigerī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The OLD treats it as an adjective, ''clāviger, -era, -erum''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The key-bearing adjective is [[af|la|clāvis|-ger|t1=key|t2=bearing]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|clāvis]] to [[ine-pro|*kleh2u-|t=to close]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Ovid, in the ''Fasti'', addresses Janus, the god of doors, as the key-bearing god.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Macrobius also explains it as an epithet of Janus.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Christian writers made it an epithet of Saint Peter, the bearer of the keys of heaven,^(TLL)^(Niermeyer 1976) and it was used of bishops as keepers of the keys of the kingdom of heaven.^(MLW) In medieval Latin it was also a doorkeeper or warden,^(MLW) a steward or treasurer,^(Niermeyer 1976)^(MLW) and an adjective for the papal soldiers who bore a key on their dress.^(MLW)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of Janus.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * first half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius explains it as an epithet of Janus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 639–642 – Jonas of Bobbio uses it of a doorkeeper.^(MLW)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Carrying a [[m|en|key]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The key-bearer, an epithet of [[m|en|Janus]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' The key-bearer, an epithet of Saint Peter.^(TLL)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|doorkeeper]], warden; a steward, [[m|en|treasurer]].^(MLW)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[clāva]]

+ * [[clāvis]]

+ * [[gerō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}