clavis

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

clavis

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Latin clāvis (“a key”). Doublet of clave and clef.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkleɪ.vɪs/, /ˈklɑv.ɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvɪs
• Rhymes: -ævɪs

Noun

clavis (plural clavises or claves)

1. (archaeology) A Roman key.

   Synonym: key

   • 1873, “Proceedings of the Association”, in Journal of the British Archaeological Association‎, volume 29, April 9th, page 202:

     Iron clavis, the solid web-shaped at the edges to fit the wards in the lock, and having a pointed broach and a kite-formed looped haft.

2. A device for restraint of the hands.

   Synonym: shackles

   • 1904, B. O. Flower, “Editorials”, in B. O. Flower, editor, The Arena‎, volume 32, VI. Dr. Bell shows how hopeless insanity was a fruit of public parsimony, page 540, column 2:

     His hands were restrained by means of a clavis and bolt (of iron), appropriated to each wrist, and united by a padlock.

3. Synonym of glossary: a key to the meaning of various terms.
   • 1784 July 12, William Cowper, “To the Rev. William Unwin.”, in Robert Southey, editor, The Works of William Cowper, with a Life of the Author‎, volume 5, published 1836, page 54:

     Homer, with a clavis, I have had possession of some years.

4. (taxonomy) A key; an identification guide; a series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.

   Synonyms: identification guide, conspectus, key

   • 1921, Alexander Irvine, “Short Notes: Rosa spinosissima×rubiginosa×f. cantiana, forma nova”, in Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, volume 59, number 702, page 180:

     There are many disadvantages in using a clavis intended for another country, which necessarily includes plants that are absent from our islands while it omits some that are present and neglects the peculiarities of our island flora.

Related terms

• clavichord

Translations

groups of information used for identifying a taxon

Japanese: 検索表 (kensakuhyō)

References

• “clavis”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• Slavic, cavils

Catalan

Verb

clavis

1. second-person singular present subjunctive of clavar

Latin

Latin Wikipedia has an article on:

clavis

Wikipedia ^la

clāvis (a key)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *klāwis. Either a secondary i-stem derivation of the Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“nail, pin, hook - instruments, of old use for locking doors”) which gave also Latin clāvus (“nail”), an inherited Indo-European word originally denoting an instrument for unlocking doors, or a loanword from dialectal Ancient Greek *κλᾱϝίς (*klāwís) (Classical κλείς (kleís)), from the same Proto-Indo-European root.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈklaː.u̯is/, [ˈkɫ̪äːu̯ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkla.vis/, [ˈkläːvis]

Noun

clāvis f (genitive clāvis); third declension

1. a key
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 24:

     Post hanc orationem claves portarum pecuniaeque regiae ante pedes eorum posuit.

     After this discourse he laid the keys of the gates and of the royal treasure at their feet.

   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Iudicum.3.25:

     […] et videntes quod nullus aperiret tulerunt clavem et aperientes invenerunt dominum suum iacentem in terra mortuum

     […] and, behold, he did not open the doors; therefore they took a key and opened [the doors] to enter [but] their lord was lying dead on the ground.

2. Ellipsis of clāvis trochī.: an instrument in the form of a key, by which a top was set in motion
3. a lever or bar for tightening a screw press

   Synonym: clāvis torculārī

   • 234 BCE – 149 BCE, Cato the Elder, De Agri Cultura 13:

     […] seriam vinariam unam, clavem torculari I […]

Usage notes

Not to be confused with clāva (“a staff, cudgel, club”) or clāvus (“a nail”).

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem, accusative singular in -em or -im, ablative singular in -e or -ī).

	singular	plural
nominative	clāvis	clāvēs
genitive	clāvis	clāvium
dative	clāvī	clāvibus
accusative	clāvem clāvim	clāvēs clāvīs
ablative	clāve clāvī	clāvibus
vocative	clāvis	clāvēs

Derived terms

• clāvicārius
• clāvichordium
• clāvicula
• clāviger
• clāvile
• clāvis aurea
• conclāve
• sub clāve

 

Related terms

• claudō
• claustellum
• claustrārius
• claustrum
• clausula
• clausum
• clausūra
• clausus
• clāvus

 

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: cljai
  • Romanian: cheie
• Dalmatian:
  • cluf
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: chiave
  • Neapolitan: chiave
  • Sicilian: chiavi, ciavi (alternative speling)
• Padanian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: ciàṿ
    • Piedmontese: ciav
    • Romagnol: cêv
  • Friulian: clâf, clâv (alternative orthography)
  • Istriot: ciave
  • Ladin: chiëf
  • Romansch: clav, clev (Puter)
  • Venetan: ciave
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: clau
  • Franco-Provençal: cllâf
  • Old French: clef (see there for further descendants)
  • Occitan: clau
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: clau

    Ribagorçan: cllau

  • Asturian: llave
  • Galician: chave
  • Portuguese: chave (see there for further descendants)
  • Spanish: llave (see there for further descendants)
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: crae
• Borrowings:
  • → English: clavis
  • → Polish: klawisz
    • → Russian: клавиша (klaviša)
  • → Portuguese: clave
  • → Spanish: clave

See also

• clāva
• clāvus

References

1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “clāvis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 119

Further reading

• “clavis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “clavis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• clavis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• clavis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “clavis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “clavis”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

clāvīs

1. dative/ablative plural of clāvus

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

clāvīs

1. dative/ablative plural of clāva