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 corrected and augmented 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

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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”), Persian خم‎ (kham, “curve, crook”). More at change.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkam.bi.um/, [ˈkam.bi.ʊ̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkam.bi.um/
• (Vulgar) IPA^(key): /ˈkam.βi.um/, [ˈkam.βjo.õ]

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, 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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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin cambium.

Noun

cambium m (plural cambiums)

1. cambium

Related terms

• cambiar