calumnia

See also: calumniá and calúmnia

Latin

Alternative forms

• kalumnia

Etymology

Uncertain. In the EDL, De Vaan suggests a derivation from earlier *kalwomno- (“deceiving, accusing”), itself an archaic mediopassive participle related to calvor (“to deceive”). According to De Vaan, the absence of the development -lw- > -ll- implies an even earlier variant *kalu- or *kalVw-. In a later publication, De Vaan suggests a possible derivation from *kalomno-, itself from *kelh₁- (“to call out to”). This pre-form might reflect an earlier thematic present *kalō, which is possibly the source of calō and Umbrian 𐌊𐌀𐌛𐌄𐌕𐌖 (kařetu). See *kelō for more information.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kaˈɫʊm.ni.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kaˈlum.ni.a]

Noun

calumnia f (genitive calumniae); first declension

1. A cunning device, trickery, artifice, sophistry, chicanery.
2. A pretence, evasion, subterfuge.
3. A misrepresentation, false statement, fallacy, cavil.
4. A false accusation or prosecution, malicious charge.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	calumnia	calumniae
genitive	calumniae	calumniārum
dative	calumniae	calumniīs
accusative	calumniam	calumniās
ablative	calumniā	calumniīs
vocative	calumnia	calumniae

Derived terms

• calumnior
• calumniōsus

Related terms

• calumniātor
• calumniātrīx
• calumniōsē

Descendants

Descendants

• → Asturian: calumnia, calunia (learned)
• → Catalan: calúmnia (learned)
• → Italian: calunnia (learned)
• → Middle French: calomnie (learned)
  • → English: calumny
  • French: calomnie
    • → Romanian: calomnie
• → Galician: calumnia (learned)
• Old French: chalonge (see there for further descendants)
• Old Galician-Portuguese: cooyma (“reparations”)
  • Galician: (archaic) coima
  • Portuguese: coima
• Old Leonese: calonnia, calonna (“sanction, fine”)
  • Asturian: (archaic) caloña (“fine”)
• → Polish: kalumnia (learned)
• → Portuguese: calúnia (learned)
• Sicilian: calugna, calunnia
• Old Spanish: caloña
• → Spanish: calumnia (learned)
• → Proto-Brythonic: *kabl (earlier *kaml, by metathesis)
  • ⇒ Middle Breton: cablus
  • Cornish: cabal, cabel
  • Middle Welsh: cabyl
    • Welsh: cabl
    • ⇒ Middle Welsh: caplu
      • Welsh: cablu

References

• “calumnia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “calumnia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "calumnia", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “calumnia”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • chicanery (specially of wrongfully accusing an innocent man): calumniae litium (Mil. 27. 74)
    
• “calumnia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “calumnia”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese

Noun

calumnia f (plural calumnias)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of calúnia
   • 1878, Eça de Queirós, chapter V, in O Primo Basílio:

     Elle exclamou logo, vivamente: —Para evitar qualquer calumnia d'essas linguas damnadas!

     He soon exclaimed, vividly: "To avoid any calumny from these damned people!"

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈlumnja/ [kaˈlũm.nja]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -umnja
• Syllabification: ca‧lum‧nia

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin calumnia. Compare with the inherited Old Spanish caloña.

Noun

calumnia f (plural calumnias)

1. calumny
2. slander

   Synonym: denostación

3. aspersion
4. libel

   Synonym: libelo

5. defamation

   Synonym: difamación

Related terms

• calumniador
• calumniar
• calumnioso

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

calumnia

1. inflection of calumniar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “calumnia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025