promontory

English

WOTD – 22 September 2011

Promontory.

Etymology

From Medieval Latin prōmontōrium, from prō- + *mineō (“to project or jut”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stand out”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒm.ən.tɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑməntɔɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

promontory (plural promontories)

1. A high point of land extending into a body of water, headland; cliff.

   Synonyms: cliff, headland, hoe

   • 1970, Ken Fitzgerald, The Space Age Photographic Atlas‎^[1], Crown Publishers, page 196:

     South of Hang-chou Wan (Bay) below Shanghai, the China coastline changes from a smooth, flat topography to one of irregular, rocky promontories and numerous islands. Foochow, the Fugiu of Marco Polo, dates from the seventh century. Offshore the Ma-tsu Lieh-tao (Matsu and Pei-kan, or Changshu Islands) are heavily fortified Nationalist strongholds.

2. (anatomy) A projecting part of the body.
   1. A projection on the sacrum.
   2. A rounded elevation in the tympanum of the ear.

Derived terms

• Promontory Point

Translations

a high point of land extending into a body of water, headland; cliff

• Arabic: (ras)
• Armenian: հրվանդան (hy) (hrvandan)
• Bashkir: морон (moron)
• Bulgarian: висок нос m (visok nos)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 海角 (zh) (hǎijiǎo)

• Czech: mys (cs) m, ostroh m, útes (cs) m
• Dutch: landtong (nl), voorgebergte (nl), uitsteeksel (nl)
• Finnish: niemeke, nokka (fi)
• French: promontoire (fr) m
• German: Landzunge (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ῥίον n (rhíon), σκόπελος m (skópelos)

• Hungarian: hegyfok (hu)
• Irish: ros m, rinn f, scoth f, léim f
• Italian: promontorio (it) m
• Japanese: 岬 (ja) (みさき, misaki)
• Khmer: ដើមភ្នំ (daəm pnum)
• Latin: prōmontōrium n
• Macedonian: 'рт m ('rt), нос m (nos)
• Maori: koutu, kūmore, tūmū
• Norman: capée f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: odde (no) m, landtunge m or f, nes (no) n, tange (no) m

• Ottoman Turkish: بورون (burun)
• Polish: cypel (pl) m, przylądek (pl) m
• Portuguese: promontório (pt)
• Russian: мыс (ru) m (mys), вы́ступ (ru) m (výstup); стре́лка (ru) m (strélka) (at the confluence of two rivers)
• Scots: mull
• Scottish Gaelic: rubha m, sròn f
• Serbo-Croatian: promontorij (sh) m
• Spanish: promontorio (es)
• Swahili: rasi (sw)
• Swedish: udde (sv)
• Ukrainian: мис (uk) m (mys), виступ m (vystup)
• Volapük: länalineg

Further reading

• “promontory”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.