From Latin 'classicus' (of the highest class) — a Roman tax-roll term that came to define enduring artistic excellence.
Judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind; of or relating to ancient Greek or Latin literature, art, or culture.
From French 'classique' or directly from Latin 'classicus' (of the highest class), from 'classis' (a class, division, fleet), originally referring to a call to arms or assembly, from PIE *kelh₁- (to call, shout). In Roman census terminology, 'classicus' designated a citizen of the highest property class (the 'classis'), as opposed to those below the minimum ('infra classem' — literally 'below the class'). The literary critic Aulus Gellius (2nd century CE) applied 'classicus scriptor' to mean 'a first-class writer
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