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Climax comes from Latin clīmax, from Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ ‘ladder, staircase’, from κλίνω ‘to lean’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- ‘to lean’.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱley-¹‘to lean’reconstructed
2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱl̥-né-y-ti²‘to lean’reconstructed
3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*klíňňō²reconstructed
4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκλίνω³klínō‘to lean’
5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκλῖμαξ³klîmax‘ladder, staircase, climax’
6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclīmax³
7. Englishearliest quotation 1589climax³

1. ¹ Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *ḱl̥néyti
2. ² Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κλίνω
3. ³ Wiktionary, English climax
4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie: “Ye haue a figure which as well by his…”.