English edit

Etymology edit

Latin cacūmen

Noun edit

cacumen (plural cacumina)

  1. (obsolete, physics) The smallest possible piece of matter, making up part of an atom.

Latin edit

Etymology edit

Cognate to Sanskrit ककुद् (kakúd, peak, summit, point; head, chief; hump, projection; palate, tongue), which similarly preserves the original sense of projection in any direction, and the particular sense of the humped shoulders of an animal. The semantics of the denominal verb are influenced by acūmen.[1]

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

cacūmen n (genitive cacūminis); third declension

  1. peak, extremity, top, summit
    Synonyms: vertex, apex, culmen, fastīgium, summitās
    Antonym: fundus
  2. end, limit
    Synonyms: līmes, fīnis, modus
  3. (grammar) accent mark placed over a letter

Declension edit

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative cacūmen cacūmina
Genitive cacūminis cacūminum
Dative cacūminī cacūminibus
Accusative cacūmen cacūmina
Ablative cacūmine cacūminibus
Vocative cacūmen cacūmina

Derived terms edit

Descendants edit

  • English: cacuminous, cacuminal
  • Italian: cacume

References edit

  • cacumen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • cacumen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • cacumen 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)
  • cacumen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  1. ^ “cacume” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN

Spanish edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin cacūmen.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /kaˈkumen/ [kaˈku.mẽn]
  • Rhymes: -umen
  • Syllabification: ca‧cu‧men

Noun edit

cacumen m (plural cacúmenes)

  1. (colloquial) acumen
    • 1877, Benito Pérez Galdós, Gloria:
      Escopetas, carabinas, cuchillos, trampas, mil artificios ingeniosos, ora aprendidos, ora inventados por su propio genial cacumen, y que tenían por objeto apoderarse de la mitad del reino volátil, ocupaban una regular pieza.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. (obsolete) peak; summit

Further reading edit