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digitus

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin digitus. Doublet of digit.

Noun

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digitus (plural digiti)

  1. (historical) An Ancient Roman unit of length, approximately 0.73 inches.

Latin

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digitus manūs (digit of the hand)

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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    Traditionally derived from Proto-Italic *digitos, from Proto-Indo-European *deyǵ- (“to show, point out, pronounce solemnly”), variant of the root *deyḱ- that also gave Latin dīcō (“to say, speak talk”) and English toe; fingers were thus "pointers" or "indicators". The "digit" sense comes from the fact that they were used for counting up to ten, though De Vaan is skeptical, as no other term exhibits a comparable change from *-ḱ- to a *-ǵ-.[1]

    Indo-European cognates include Sanskrit दिशति (diśáti, “to show, point out”), Ancient Greek δείκνῡμῐ (deíknūmĭ, “to show”), δῐ́κη (dĭ́kē, “manner, custom”), Old English tǣċan (“to show; to point out”, English teach) and tācn (“sign; token”, English token); compare the similar semantic shift in English teacher (“forefinger, index finger”). The relation to Ancient Greek δᾰ́κτῠλος (dắktŭlos, “finger”) is unclear, particularly as the latter term's phonetics suggest a substrate origin.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    digitus m (genitive digitī); second declension

    1. a finger, toe
    2. (mathematics) a digit, number
    3. an inch (in ancient times, a 16th part of a Roman foot)
    4. a twig

    Declension

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    Second-declension noun (alternative genitive plural in -um).

    singular plural
    nominative digitus digitī
    genitive digitī digitōrum
    digitum
    dative digitō digitīs
    accusative digitum digitōs
    ablative digitō digitīs
    vocative digite digitī

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    References

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    • “digitus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • “digitus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • "digitus", 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)
    • “digitus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
      • to touch with the fingertips: extremis digitis aliquid attingere
    • “digitus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • “digitus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
    1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 170-1

    Middle English

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    Noun

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    digitus

    1. alternative form of digit
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