English
clause
Clause comes from Latin clausus ‘closed, inaccessible’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂w- ‘key, hook, nail’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kleh₂w-‘key, hook, nail’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*klaudō‘to close’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclaudōas claudere, past participle‘to shut, close’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEclausus‘closed, inaccessible’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500clausa
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400clause
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘sentence, clause’
- Englishearliest quotation 1951same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kleh₂w-‘key, hook, nail’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*klaudō‘to close’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclaudōas claudere, past participle‘to shut, close’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEclausus‘closed, inaccessible’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500clausa
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400clause
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘sentence, clause’
- Englishearliest quotation 1951same form
Earliest quotation: 1951, Notes and News: North Fife Line, Scotland: “Mr. Waller adds that when the railway was authorised…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂w- ‘key, hook, nail’
include, cataract, conclave, subclavian, 29 more
through Proto-Italic *klaudō ‘to close’
through Latin claudō ‘to shut, close’
exclusive, conclusion, closure, conclude, inclusion, closet, inclusive, exclude, disclose, preclude, sluice, cloister, occlusion, enclose, recluse, 29 more
through Latin clausus ‘closed, inaccessible’
Today it means
noun A group of words that contains a subject and a verb; it may be part of a sentence or may constitute the whole sentence, depending on the syntax in each instance.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂w- / clause