diluvium

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin dīluvium (“flood”), from lavō (“to wash”). Doublet of deluge.

Noun

diluvium (plural diluviums or diluvia)

1. An inundation or flood; a deluge.
2. (geology) A deposit of sand, gravel, etc. made by oceanic flooding.

Related terms

• antediluvian

References

• Chambers's Etymological Dictionary, 1896, p. 126

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin diluvium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.ly.vjɔm/

Noun

diluvium m (plural diluviums)

1. (geology, obsolete) diluvium

   Synonym: diluvion

Further reading

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

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin dīluvium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diˈlu.vjum/
• Rhymes: -uvjum
• Hyphenation: di‧lù‧vium

Noun

diluvium m (uncountable)

1. (geology) diluvium

   Synonym: (rare) diluvio

2. (geology) synonym of pleistocene

Further reading

• diluvium in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• diluvium in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Latin

Etymology

From dīluō (“to wash away”) +‎ -ium, from dis- +‎ lavō (“to wash”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [diːˈɫʊ.wi.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [diˈluː.vi.um]

Noun

dīluvium n (genitive dīluviī or dīluvī); second declension

1. a flood

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	dīluvium	dīluvia
genitive	dīluviī dīluvī1	dīluviōrum
dative	dīluviō	dīluviīs
accusative	dīluvium	dīluvia
ablative	dīluviō	dīluviīs
vocative	dīluvium	dīluvia

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

Descendants

• → Catalan: diluvi
• → English: diluvium
• Galician: dioivo
• → Old Irish: díliu
  • Irish: díle
• → Italian: diluvio, → Italian: diluvium
  • → Romanian: diluviu
• Occitan: deluvi, diluvi
• Old French: deluge
  • French: déluge
  • → Middle English: deluge
    • English: deluge
• → Old Galician-Portuguese: dilúvio
• → Old Spanish: diluvio, diluujo, diluuyo
  • Spanish: diluvio
• Piedmontese: diluvi
• → Proto-Brythonic: *dilüw
  • Welsh: dilyw
• Sicilian: sdilluviu

References

• “diluvium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “diluvium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers