clivus Latin · revision 5570
16 Oct 2026, 02:57 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *ḱley-}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkliː.wʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkliː.vus]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''clīvus''' ''m'' (genitive clīvī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*kleiwo-]], from [[ine-pro|*ḱloy-wo-|t=slope]] or *ḱley-wo- “sloping”, from the root *ḱley- “to lean”, as in [[clīnō|alt=-clīnāre]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012) Cognate with [[got|𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍅|tr=hlaiw|t=grave mound]], [[goh|hlēo|t=grave mound]] and [[lt|šleĩvas|t=bow-legged]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus, where a slave threatens to drive a man uphill with the spur.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Cato has a neuter plural ''clīva''.^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was sloping ground, a slope or incline, up or down, and Caesar speaks of easing a slope.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) With an adjective it named streets in Rome that climbed a hill, as the ''Clīvus Publicius'', and alone it was the ''Clīvus Capitōlīnus''.^(OLD 2012) Vitruvius uses it of a ramp in a house.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ In medieval Britain, under the influence of Middle English ''clif'', it also meant a cliff.^(DMLBS) Its adjectives ''dēclīvis'' and ''acclīvis'' gave [[en|declivity]] and [[en|acclivity]] in the 1610s.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of driving someone uphill.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses the neuter plural ''clīva''.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar speaks of easing a slope.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1610s – English ''declivity'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|slope]], incline, hill.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A street climbing a hill; the ''Clīvus Capitōlīnus''.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A ramp (in a house).^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|cliff]].^(DMLBS)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[cliēns]]
+ * [[clītella]]
+ * [[en|declivity]]
+
+ ==Usage notes==
+ Döderlein distinguishes [[collis]], a hill rising steeply from a plain, from ''clīvus'', a gently rising slope.^(Döderlein 1874)
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}