linum
LatinEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Proto-Italic *līnom, likely from Proto-Indo-European *līnom.
Cognates include Old English līne (“line, rope, cord”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌽 (lein) and other derivatives of Proto-Germanic *līną, although Pokorny proposed it is a borrowing from Latin.
Although Greek λίνον (línon), Lithuanian linas, Russian лён (ljon) are sometimes listed as cognates, they actually derive from *lino- with a short /i/.
Celtic and Albanian words for linen probably derive from Latin, although Celtic languages retained possibly related cloth terms with a short /i/ (see *linnā).
Considering also the existence of a Latin root with a short /i/ and a /t/ (linteum), reconstruction of a common PIE protoform is impossible, and no similarly sounding terms are attested outside of Europe.
If such roots were borrowed from one or several non-IE languages, as proposed by Machek, locating the source is impossible because cultivation of linen was ubiquitous in the region since the Neolithic.
Alternatively, Fick proposed derivation as a passive past participle from Proto-Indo-European *lei- (“to flow, pour”) because flax is soaked in water during its retting.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
līnum n (genitive līnī); second declension
- flax
- linen cloth; garment made of linen
- rope, line, string, thread, cord, cable
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.239-240:
- fēsta diēs illīs, quī līna madentia dūcunt,
quīque tegunt parvīs aera recurva cibīs- The day [is] a festival for those who pull [their] dripping lines, and who hide [their] hooked bronze in little bits [of] food.
(In other words, a holiday for fishermen, whose hooks are drawn with dripping lines. Although fishermen also use dripping nets, in that case rētia madentia would seem more likely word choices.)
- The day [is] a festival for those who pull [their] dripping lines, and who hide [their] hooked bronze in little bits [of] food.
- fēsta diēs illīs, quī līna madentia dūcunt,
- net for hunting or fishing
- wick of a lamp
- sail
DeclensionEdit
Second-declension noun (neuter).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | līnum | līna |
| Genitive | līnī | līnōrum |
| Dative | līnō | līnīs |
| Accusative | līnum | līna |
| Ablative | līnō | līnīs |
| Vocative | līnum | līna |
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
- → Albanian: li
- Aromanian: ljin, ljinu
- Asturian: llinu, ḷḷinu
- Catalan: lli
- → English: linoleum, lino
- French: lin
- Friulian: lin
- Italian: lino
- Megleno-Romanian: ľin
- Norman: lîn
- Occitan: lin
- Old Portuguese: lỹo
- Romanian: in
- Sardinian: linu
- Sicilian: linu
- Spanish: lino
- Translingual: Linum
- Venetian: lin
- Welsh: llin
ReferencesEdit
- “linum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “linum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- linum 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)
- linum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- to open a letter: epistulam solvere, aperire, resignare (of Romans also linum incīdere)
- to open a letter: epistulam solvere, aperire, resignare (of Romans also linum incīdere)
- “linum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “līnum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 344
VolapükEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
linum (nominative plural linums)