culmen

English

Etymology

Latin, from cellere (“(in comparative) to impel”).

Noun

culmen (plural culmens)

1. top; summit; acme

   (Can we find and add a quotation of R. North to this entry?)

2. (zoology) The dorsal ridge of a bird's bill.
   • 1997 June 20, “A Role for Ecotones in Generating Rainforest Biodiversity”^[1], Science, volume 276, number 5320, DOI:10.1126/science.276.5320.1855, pages 1855-1857: 

     The measurements were taken as follows: wing length, from the carpal joint to the tip of the longest primary; tarsus length, from the tibiotarsal joint to the distal undivided scute; upper mandible length, the chord length from the point where the culmen enters the feathers of the head to the tip; bill depth, in the vertical plane level at the anterior edge of the nares.

   • 1910, Alfred M. Tozzer and Glover M. Allen, Animal Figures in the Maya Codices^[2]:

     A very simple form was found in the carving shown in Pl. 17, fig. 13, where a long projecting knob is seen at the base of the culmen.

References

• culmen in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

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Latin

Noun

culmen (genitive culminis); n, third declension

1. stalk
2. top, roof, summit
3. (figuratively) height, acme

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	culmen	culmina
genitive	culminis	culminum
dative	culminī	culminibus
accusative	culmen	culmina
ablative	culmine	culminibus
vocative	culmen	culmina

Descendants

• Italian: colmo, culmine
• Portuguese: cume
• Romanian: culme
• Romansch: culm
• Spanish: cumbre

References

• Collins Latin Dictionary, ISBN 978-0-00-722439-5