cambium

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin cambium (“a change”), from Gaulish. Doublet of change.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkambɪəm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkeə̯m.biˌəm/, /ˈkæm.biˌəm/

Noun

cambium (plural cambiums or cambia)

1. (botany) A layer of cells between the xylem and the phloem that is responsible for the secondary growth of roots and stems.
   • 1863, Harland Coultas, What may be learned from a tree:

     During winter we perceive no change in the cells of the cambium layer, which are filled with nutritive matter […].

2. (anatomy) Periosteum, a membrane that covers the outer surface of bones
3. (obsolete) One of the humours formerly believed to nourish the bodily organs.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:

     , Bk.I, New York, 2001, p.147:

     The radical or innate is daily supplied by nourishment, which some call cambium, and make those secondary humours of ros and gluten to maintain it […].

Translations

botanical cell layer

• Finnish: jälsi (fi)
• Hungarian: kambium
• Russian: ка́мбий (ru) m (kámbij)

• Spanish: cambium
• Tagalog: bayluhing suson, bayluhan

membrane that covers bones — see periosteum

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑ̃.bjɔm/

Noun

cambium m (plural cambiums)

1. cambium

Further reading

• “cambium”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Latin

Etymology

From Gaulish cambion, *kambyom (“change”), from Proto-Celtic *kambos (“twisted, crooked”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₂mbós, *(s)kh₂mbós (“crooked”), ultimately from the root Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- (“to bend, curve”).

Compare Ancient Greek καμπή (kampḗ, “winding, bending; turn, change”). Cognate with Ancient Greek σκαμβός (skambós, “crooked”), Old Irish camm (“crooked”), Welsh cam (“crooked”), Breton kamm (“crooked”), Old High German skimph (“joke, amusement, pastime”), Swedish skumpa (“to limp”). More at change.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkam.bi.um/, [ˈkämbiʊ̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkam.bi.um/, [ˈkämbium]

Noun

cambium n (genitive cambiī or cambī); second declension

1. (Late Latin, Vulgar Latin) A change
2. (Medieval Latin, New Latin) cambium

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cambium	cambia
Genitive	cambiī cambī1	cambiōrum
Dative	cambiō	cambiīs
Accusative	cambium	cambia
Ablative	cambiō	cambiīs
Vocative	cambium	cambia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

• cambiō

Descendants

• → English: cambium
• → French: cambium
• Italian: cambio
• Portuguese: câmbio
• → Spanish: cambio, cambium

References

• cambium 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)
• cambium in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

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Romanian

Noun

cambium n (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of cambiu

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin cambium.

Noun

cambium m (plural cambiums)

1. cambium

Related terms

• cambiar