claviform

English

WOTD – 7 September 2020

Pronunciation

A drawing of an arum lily (family Araceae), with a claviform spadix (marked c; etymology 1).

A drawing of parts of a sea urchin Diadema palmeri. The part marked C is a claviform pedicellaria (etymology 1), a small, stalk-like structure used for cleaning and as a defence against predators.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈklævɪfɔːm/, /ˈkleɪ-/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈklævɪˌfɔɹm/, /-və-/
• Hyphenation: cla‧vi‧form

Etymology 1

The adjective is derived from Latin clāvifōrmis (“club-shaped, claviform”), from Latin clāva (“a club”) (from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to beat; to break”)) + -fōrmis (suffix meaning ‘having the form of’) (equivalent to -form, -iform). The English word is cognate with French claviforme.

The noun is probably derived from the adjective.

Adjective

claviform (comparative more claviform, superlative most claviform)

1. (chiefly biology) Larger at the tip than at the base; club-shaped.

   Synonyms: clavate, clubbed

   • 1805, Robert Jameson, “Particular Generic External Characters”, in A Treatise on the External Characters of Minerals, Edinburgh: […] University Press for Bell & Bradfute, Guthrie & Tait, and W[illiam] Blackwood; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, →OCLC, page 29:

     Claviform is the reverse of stalactitic; it is composed of club-shaped parallel rods which adhere by their thin extremities. Examples, brown and black hæmatite.

   • 1831, [Georges] Cuvier, P[ierre] A[ndré] Latreille, “Second Great Division of the Animal Kingdom. Animalia Mollusca.”, in H[enry] M’Murtrie, transl., The Animal Kingdom Arranged in Conformity with Its Organization, […], 2nd edition, volume II, New York, N.Y.: G. & C. & H. Carvill, →OCLC, page 339:

     Two other claviform tentacula arise from the anterior superior part of the mantle [of sea slugs of the genus Doris].

   • 1832, William Jackson Hooker, quoting Pierre Antoine Poiteau, “Couroupita Guianensis. Guiana Couroupita, or Cannon-Ball Tree.”, in Samuel Curtis, editor, Curtis’s Botanical Magazine; or Flower Garden Displayed: […], volume VI (New Series; volume LIX overall), London: […] Edward Couchman, […]; for the proprietor, Samuel Curtis, […], →ISSN, →OCLC:

     The embryo is roundish, compressed, with a very large, claviform radicle, and two large, foliaceous cotyledons, full of nerves, plaited, depressed, and applied to the radicle; the colour of the embryo is white, except the nerves of the cotyledons, which are rose-coloured.

   • 1972, Alan H. Cheetham, “Systematic Paleontology”, in Cheilostome Bryozoa of the Late Eocene Age from Eua, Tonga (Late Eocene Fossils from Eua, Tonga; Geological Survey Professional Paper; 640-E), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page E10:

     One zoarial fragment, from sample 2, may belong to Figularia. [...] The elongate-claviform zooecia have long, smooth proximal gymnocysts, extending as much as one-third the zooecial length and continuing as narrow strips along the lateral margins nearly to the distal end.

   • 1986, Wolfgang Sterrer, Christiane Schoepfer-Sterrer, editors, Marine Fauna and Flora of Bermuda: A Systematic Guide to the Identification of Marine Organisms, New York, N.Y., Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley, →ISBN, page 141, column 1:

     They vary in shape from filiform (thread-shaped) or claviform (club-shaped) to capitate (with a terminal knob) or moniliform (with a series of knobs).

   • 1998, Jean Clottes, J[ames] David Lewis-Williams, translated by Sophie Hawkes, The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves, New York, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams, →ISBN, page 47:

     The claviform (club-shaped) shapes are especially prevalent in the Pyrenees particularly in the Ariege [...], but they are also found in the Dordogne (Lascaux, Gabillou), in Quercy (Saint-Eulalie), and on the Cantabrian coast [...].

   • 2004 December, C[arlos] M[anuel] Ochoa, “Series Conicibaccata”, in Donald Ugent, transl., The Potatoes of South America: Peru: (Part I: The Wild Species), Lima, Peru: International Potato Center (CIP), →ISBN, page 114:

     Solanum contumazaense [...] Style 10–11 mm long, exerted 4 mm, sparsely papillose below center; stigma claviform, light green.

Translations

larger at the tip than at the base; club-shaped

• Catalan: claviforme
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 棒狀的／棒状的 (bàngzhuàngde)

• French: claviforme (fr)
• German: claviform (de), keulenförmig (de), kolbenförmig
• Italian: claviforme
• Spanish: claviforme

Noun

claviform (plural claviforms)

1. (palaeography) An image or symbol which is club-shaped, that is, larger at the tip than at the base.
   • 1997, Paul G. Bahn, Jean Vertut, “What was Depicted?”, in Journey through the Ice Age, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 164, column 2:

     The claviform comprises a vertical line with a bulge at one side; but unlike the buttocks on the stylized females, the bulge is usually on the middle or the upper half of the 'sign'! It has been suggested that the 'upper bulge' on a claviform instead represents breasts, but this is based on supposedly stylized statuettes from Dolni Vestonice and elsewhere, comprising a rod with two little lumps near the top, and thus on analogies with sites even further away in space and time from the claviforms.

   • 2006, Paul G. Bahn, “Myths and Meanings”, in Prehistoric Rock Art: Polemics and Progress […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 32:

     In the early days of research, the images were often read very literally, and this was certainly taken to extremes – the classic example, of course, is the ‘signs’ in Ice Age cave art which the first researchers assumed to represent actual objects, and gave them names accordingly – for example, ‘claviforms’ were thought to be clubs, ‘tectiforms’ were thought to be roofs or huts, and so forth [...].

   • 2016, Genevieve von Petzinger, “Signs across the Ages: The Many Styles of the Oldest Art”, in The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World’s Oldest Symbols, New York, N.Y.: Atria Paperback, published March 2017, →ISBN, page 140:

     There is also a faded red painting of a claviform (a thick curved line with a raised bump or point in the middle) that looks awfully similar to those found at a few other sites in northern Spain. A claviform from Altamira was dated using the uranium-series technique and is at least 35,000 years old.

   • 2018, Jean Clottes, “European Palaeolithic Rock Art and Spatial Structures”, in Bruno David, Ian J. McNiven, editors, The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part II (Conceptual Approaches to Rock Art: Investigating Meaning), page 406:

     In Niaux, claviforms played a special role in that respect because we also find them very far inside the cave near the end of the galleries. [...] The same structure is visible at the Salon Noir itself. There, a claviform and a parallel bar were made on the first panel to the right, at the entrance.

Translations

image or symbol which is club-shaped

Etymology 2

From Latin clāvifōrmis (“nail-shaped, claviform”) (attested since 1677), from Latin clāvus (“a nail (metal spike)”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kleh₂w- (“a crook, hook; a peg”), + -fōrmis (suffix meaning ‘having the form of’), equivalent to -form, -iform.

Adjective

claviform (comparative more claviform, superlative most claviform)

1. (chiefly biology) Shaped like a nail (“a metallic spike-shaped fastener”).
   • 1988, M. Zabala, P. Maluquer, Illustrated Keys for the Classification of Mediterranean Bryozoa (Treballs del Museu de Zoologia; no. 4), Barcelona: Museu de Zoologia, Ajuntament de Barcelona, →ISBN, page 62:

     CLAVOPORA Busk, 1874. Colony small, erect, coriaceous, claviform (nail-shaped), with two well differentiated parts: [...]

Translations

shaped like a nail (a metallic spike-shaped fastener)

Etymology 3

From or cognate to Latin clāvifōrmis (“key-shaped, claviform”) (documented since at least 1844), from Latin clāvis (“key”) (either from Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “something used to lock and unlock, a bar, bolt, key”), or directly from its etymon Proto-Indo-European *(s)kleh₂w- (“a crook, hook; a peg”)) + -fōrmis (suffix meaning ‘having the form of’), equivalent to -form, -iform.

Adjective

claviform (comparative more claviform, superlative most claviform)

1. Key-shaped.
   • 1961, Alan Houghton Brodrick, Casual Change, London: Hutchinson, →OCLC, page 159:

     The signs can be sorted out into two main classes: those which are paired or 'coupled' [...] and those which stand alone—mostly tectiform (roof-shaped) and claviform (key-shaped). There seems to be a conventional arrangement whereby certain signs are placed at the beginning of a 'sanctuary'.

   • 2008, Bruno Barbatti, “Twig, Feather”, in Alan J. Bridgman, transl., edited by Ahmed-Chaouki Rafif, Berber Carpets of Morocco: The Symbols: Origin and Meaning, Courbevoie, Paris: ACR Édition Internationale, →ISBN, part II (Documents), page 135:

     [André] Leroi-Gourhan identifies the following male signs: hook, single and double bars, dots and rows of dots. The bars derive from the phallus and the dots – we are convinced – stand for drops of sperm. He identifies the following female signs: triangles, rectangles, oval, derived from vulva and pudenda, and claviform, i.e. key-shaped signs, abstractions from a woman's figure with prominent backside [...].

   • 2014, Mary Kilbourne Matossian, Plants, Stars and the Origins of Religion: With a Decipherment of the Phaistos Disk, Minneapolis, Minn.: Mill City Press, →ISBN, page 7:

     "Claviform" ("key-shaped") is the technical name given to the shapes in Figure 2 by archaeologists specializing in Paleolithic art. The claviform (key-like) sign common in High Paleolithic art may represent the yellow sclerotia, packed with ergot [...]

Translations

key-shaped

• German: claviform (de), schlüsselförmig

Further reading

• Appendix:List of adjectives indicating shape

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [klaːviˈfɔʁm]
• Hyphenation: cla‧vi‧form

Etymology 1

clāva + -fōrmis

Adjective

claviform (strong nominative masculine singular claviformer, not comparable)

1. claviform: club-shaped

   Synonym: keulenförmig

   • 2021, Kirsten Armbruster, Patriarchatskritik, →ISBN, page 94:

     […] welches in der archäologischen Literatur als claviformes, keulenförmiges Zeichen, weitläufig beschrieben wird, […] denn auch dort wurden claviforme, keulenförmige Zeichen gefunden, […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Positive forms of claviform (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist claviform	sie ist claviform	es ist claviform	sie sind claviform
strong declension (without article)	nominative	claviformer	claviforme	claviformes	claviforme
	genitive	claviformen	claviformer	claviformen	claviformer
	dative	claviformem	claviformer	claviformem	claviformen
	accusative	claviformen	claviforme	claviformes	claviforme
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der claviforme	die claviforme	das claviforme	die claviformen
	genitive	des claviformen	der claviformen	des claviformen	der claviformen
	dative	dem claviformen	der claviformen	dem claviformen	den claviformen
	accusative	den claviformen	die claviforme	das claviforme	die claviformen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein claviformer	eine claviforme	ein claviformes	(keine) claviformen
	genitive	eines claviformen	einer claviformen	eines claviformen	(keiner) claviformen
	dative	einem claviformen	einer claviformen	einem claviformen	(keinen) claviformen
	accusative	einen claviformen	eine claviforme	ein claviformes	(keine) claviformen

Alternative forms

• klaviform

Etymology 2

clāvis + -fōrmis

Adjective

claviform (strong nominative masculine singular claviformer, not comparable)

1. claviform: key-shaped
   • 2005, Günther Grünig, Die Reise zu den Höhlen mit Malerei: die eiszeitlichen Höhlen Frankreichs und Spaniens mit ihren Kunstwerken:

     Auch einige claviforme (schlüsselförmige) Zeichen (Ausbuchtung nach rechts) fallen auf.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Positive forms of claviform (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist claviform	sie ist claviform	es ist claviform	sie sind claviform
strong declension (without article)	nominative	claviformer	claviforme	claviformes	claviforme
	genitive	claviformen	claviformer	claviformen	claviformer
	dative	claviformem	claviformer	claviformem	claviformen
	accusative	claviformen	claviforme	claviformes	claviforme
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der claviforme	die claviforme	das claviforme	die claviformen
	genitive	des claviformen	der claviformen	des claviformen	der claviformen
	dative	dem claviformen	der claviformen	dem claviformen	den claviformen
	accusative	den claviformen	die claviforme	das claviforme	die claviformen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein claviformer	eine claviforme	ein claviformes	(keine) claviformen
	genitive	eines claviformen	einer claviformen	eines claviformen	(keiner) claviformen
	dative	einem claviformen	einer claviformen	einem claviformen	(keinen) claviformen
	accusative	einen claviformen	eine claviforme	ein claviformes	(keine) claviformen