English
acclivity
Acclivity comes from Latin acclīvitās ‘slope, ascent’, and goes back to clīvus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclīvus‘slope’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEacclīvis‘ascending’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEacclīvitās‘slope, ascent’
- Englishearliest quotation 1797acclivity
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclīvus‘slope’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEacclīvis‘ascending’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEacclīvitās‘slope, ascent’
- Englishearliest quotation 1797acclivity
Earliest quotation: 1797, Ann Radcliffe: “how gaily vineyards and olives alternately chequer the acclivities”.
first attested First attested in 1614 (as stated in the etymology)
The story
First attested in 1614.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- ‘to lean’
law, low, climate, lean, decline, ladder, lid, climax, inclination, eyelid, incline, clinician, cline, declension, declination, proclivity, 25 more
Today it means
noun A slope or inclination of the earth, as the side of a hill, considered as ascending, in opposition to declivity, or descending; an upward slope; ascent.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin clīvus / acclivity