punctum

English

The first three notes in this chant are represented by puncta.

Etymology

From Latin pūnctum. Doublet of point and punto.

Noun

punctum (plural punctums or puncta)

1. (anatomy) A sharp tip of any part of the anatomy; a point or other small area.
   • 1861, The Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Zoology, Botany, and Geology

     Thus, from what has been stated, we see that neither the white puncta nor the minute white branchwork of lines were ever tubular.

2. (music) A neume representing a single tone.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• punctum caecum
• punctum proximum
• punctum remotum
• punctum vasculosum
• punctum vegetationis

Related terms

• punctal

French

Noun

punctum m (plural punctums)

1. field of vision

Further reading

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

Latin

Etymology

Neuter form of pūnctus, the perfect passive participle of pungō (“to prick, puncture”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpunk.tum/, [ˈpʊŋkt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpunk.tum/, [ˈpuŋkt̪um]

Noun

pūnctum n (genitive pūnctī); second declension

1. (also grammar, mathematics) point
2. puncture
3. moment
4. small portion
5. an affirmative vote, suffrage, ballot
6. (poetry) applause, approbation

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pūnctum	pūncta
Genitive	pūnctī	pūnctōrum
Dative	pūnctō	pūnctīs
Accusative	pūnctum	pūncta
Ablative	pūnctō	pūnctīs
Vocative	pūnctum	pūncta

Synonyms

• pūnctus

Descendants

• Asturian: puntu
• Catalan: punt
• Danish: punkt
• → Danish: punktum
• → Dutch: punt
• → English: punctum
• Friulian: pont
• Galician: punto
• German: Punkt, → Punktum
  • → Esperanto: punkto
  • → Serbo-Croatian: punkt
  • → Hungarian: pont
    • → Romanian: pont
• Irish: ponc
• Italian: punto
  • → English: punto
• → Middle Low German: punct
  • → Danish: punkt
  • → Old Norse: punktr
    • Norwegian Bokmål: punkt
    • Swedish: punktr
• Norwegian Bokmål: punktum
• Occitan: ponch
• Old French: point
  • → Middle English: point
    • English: point, p'int
      • → Cantonese: point
      • → Indonesian: poin
      • → Japanese: ポイント (pointo)
      • → Korean: 포인트 (pointeu)
  • Middle French: poinct
    • French: point
      • → Danish: point
      • → Dutch: punt
      • → Norwegian Bokmål: poeng
      • → Polish: pointa
      • → Swedish: poäng
      • → Turkish: puan
  • Norman: point
• Portuguese: ponto
• → Polish: punkt
• → Romanian: punct
• Russian: пункт (punkt)
• Sicilian: puntu
• Spanish: punto
  • → Tagalog: punto
• Swedish: punkt
• Venetian: ponto
• → Welsh: pwnc
• → Welsh: pwyth

References

• “punctum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “punctum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• punctum 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)
• punctum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette