clavis

From Latin clāvis. Doublet of clef.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈklæv.ɪs/

clavis (plural clavises or claves)

1. (archaeology) A Roman key.
   • 1873, "Proceedings", April 9th, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 29: 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.
   • 1904, Luther V. Bell, quoted in The Arena, 32: 540

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

3. A glossary.
   • 1784, William Cowper, in [1836] Robert Southey (ed.), The Works of William Cowper, with a Life of the Author, volume V, page 54

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

4. (biology) 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.
   • 1921, Journal of Botany 59: 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.

• (Roman key): key
• (device for restraint): shackles
• (glossary): glossary, idioticon, vocabulary
• (identification guide): conspectus, key

• clavichord

• Slavic, cavils

clavis

1. second-person singular present subjunctive form of clavar

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 Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈklaː.wis/, [ˈkɫaː.wɪs]

• Audio (Classical)

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clāvis f (genitive clāvis); third declension

1. key
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita libri 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. lever or bar for tightening a screw press
   • 234 BCE – 149 BCE, Cato the Elder, De Agri Cultura 13:

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

Not to be confused with clāva (“club”) or clāvus (“nail”).

Third declension, alternative accusative singular in -im, alternative ablative singular in -ī and accusative plural in -īs.

• clavis on the Latin Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^la
• clāva
• clāvus

• 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, 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