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lignum

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology 1

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Etymology tree
Latin lignumbor.
English lignum

    Borrowed from Latin lignum (“wood”).

    Noun

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    lignum (uncountable)

    1. (botany) Dead wood, typically in the context of a substrate for lichens.

    Etymology 2

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    Contraction of polygonum (“plant of the family Polygonaceae”).[1]

    Noun

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    lignum (countable and uncountable, plural lignums)

    1. A perennial shrub, Duma florulenta, native to semiarid areas of inland Australia.
    2. Land covered by lignum.
      • 1992, Bob Magor, Blood on the Board, page 10:
        They assembled in the lignum / Where the Boss said pigs were thick.
    Derived terms
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    References

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    1. ^ “lignum, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

    Anagrams

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    Latin

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    Etymology

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    From Proto-Italic *legnom, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-no-m (“that which is collected”), from *leǵ- (“to collect”), with the Italic form interpreted as "wood collected for firemaking".

    An alternative derivation from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”), and associated interpretation as "stray wood", seems equally possible, phonetically and semantically.[1]

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    lignum n (genitive lignī); second declension

    1. firewood
    2. (later Latin) wood tissue
    3. tree
      • c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Psalm.1.3:
        Et erit tamquam lignum transplantatum iuxta rivulos aquarum quod fructum suum dabit in tempore suo. Et folium eius non defluet et omne quod fecerit prosperabitur
        And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whosoever he shall do shall prosper (Douay-Rheims translation)

    Declension

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    Second-declension noun (neuter).

    singular plural
    nominative lignum ligna
    genitive lignī lignōrum
    dative lignō lignīs
    accusative lignum ligna
    ablative lignō lignīs
    vocative lignum ligna

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    Several forms inherited from the plural ligna, reinterpreted as a feminine singular noun.

    References

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    • “lignum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • “lignum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • "lignum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
    • “lignum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    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 340-1
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