cliens

Latin

Alternative forms

• cluēns

Etymology

Possibly an alteration of cluēns, present active participle of clueō (“I am called, named, esteemed”), or more likely from clīnō (“to lean”). Ultimately from the root *ḱel- (“to incline”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkli.ens/, [ˈklʲiẽːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkli.ens/, [ˈkliːens]

Noun

cliēns m or f (genitive clientis); third declension

1. customer
2. client, retainer, follower
3. companion, favorite
4. (of a nation) ally, vassal
5. one under the protection of a particular deity

   cliēns Bacchī — "client of Bacchus"

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cliēns	clientēs
Genitive	clientis	clientium
Dative	clientī	clientibus
Accusative	clientem	clientīs clientēs
Ablative	cliente	clientibus
Vocative	cliēns	clientēs

Derived terms

• clienta
• clientēla

Descendants

• French: client, cliente
• Catalan: client
• Galician: cliente
• Italian: cliente
• Portuguese: cliente
• Romanian: client
• Spanish: cliente
• → English: client
• → German: Klient
• → Russian: клие́нт (klijént)

References

• “cliens”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cliens”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cliens 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)
• cliens in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “cliens”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin