cambium

English

Etymology

From Latin cambium (“a change”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkambɪəm/

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. (obsolete) One of the humours formerly believed to nourish the bodily organs.
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):
     , 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

---

Latin

Etymology

From Gaulish cambion, *kambyom (“change”), from Proto-Celtic *kambos (“twisted, crooked”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₂mbós, *(s)kh₂mbós (“crooked”), from *(s)kh₂emb- (“to bend, curve”). 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.ũ]

Noun

cambium n (genitive cambiī); second declension

1. (Late Latin) A change
2. (Late Latin) cambium

Inflection

Second declension.

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

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

---

Spanish

Etymology

From Late Latin cambium

Noun

cambium m (plural cambiums)

1. cambium