lympha

Latin

Alternative forms

• limpha

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek νῠ́μφη (númphē, “bride, young girl; spring water”). Doublet of nympha.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈlym.pʰa/, [ˈlʲʏmpʰä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlim.fa/, [ˈlimfä]

Noun

lympha f (genitive lymphae); first declension

1. (poetic) water, especially clear river or spring water.
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.635:

      […]; dic corpus properet fluviali spargere lympha, et pecudes secum et monstrata piacula ducat: […]

2. (medicine) water in dropsical people.

Inflection

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	lympha	lymphae
genitive	lymphae	lymphārum
dative	lymphae	lymphīs
accusative	lympham	lymphās
ablative	lymphā	lymphīs
vocative	lympha	lymphae

Derived terms

• lymphāceus (adjective)
• lymphō (verb)

Related terms

• lymphāticus
• lymphātiō
• lymphātus
• lymphor

Descendants

Descendants

• → Catalan: limfa
• → Chinese: 淋巴 (línbā)
• → French: lymphe
  • → English: lymph, lymphe (rare, archaic)
• → Galician: linfa
• → Italian: linfa
• → Portuguese: linfa
• → Romanian: limfă
• → Spanish: linfa

References

• “lympha”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lympha”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lympha in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• lympha in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 2, Hahnsche Buchhandlung