tome

See also: Tome, tomé, Tomé, and -tome

English

Etymology

From Middle French tome, from Latin tomus (“section of larger work”), from Ancient Greek τόμος (tómos, “section, roll of papyrus, volume”), from τέμνω (témnō, “to cut, separate”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tōm, IPA^(key): /təʊm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: tōm, IPA^(key): /toʊm/
• Rhymes: -əʊm

Noun

tome (plural tomes)

1. One in a series of volumes.
2. A large or scholarly book.

   Synonym: (humorous) doorstop

   The professor pulled a dusty old tome from the bookshelf.

   • 2019 May 19, Alex McLevy, “The final Game Of Thrones brings a pensive but simple meditation about stories (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 May 2019:

     And Sam presents Tyrion with A Song Of Ice And Fire, a tome in which Tyrion’s own role, far from that of the clever hero or Machiavellian snake, doesn’t even exist.

   • 2023 April 20, Casey Schwartz, “Jean Twenge is ready to make you defend your generation again”, in The Washington Post‎^[2]:

     One senses, picking up Twenge’s tome — 515 pages before you get to the appendix — an attempt to quell past criticisms. “I see this book as my magnum opus,” she said.

Derived terms

• hecatontome
• microtome
• monotome
• tomeful
• tomelet

Translations

one in a series of volumes

• Armenian: հատոր (hy) (hator)
• Bulgarian: том (bg) (tom)
• Catalan: tom (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 卷 (zh) (juàn)

• Dutch: band (nl) m, deel (nl) n
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: nidos, osa (fi)
• French: tome (fr) m
• Georgian: ტომი (ṭomi)
• German: Band (de) m
• Greek: τόμος (el) m (tómos)

  Ancient Greek: τόμος m (tómos)

• Hungarian: kötet (hu)
• Icelandic: bindi n
• Ido: tomo (io)
• Kazakh: том (tom)
• Macedonian: том m (tom), свеска f (sveska)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bind (no) n

  Nynorsk: bind n

• Polish: tom (pl) m, wolumin (pl) m
• Portuguese: tomo (pt) m
• Russian: том (ru) m (tom)
• Slovene: tom m, zvezek (sl) m
• Spanish: tomo (es) m
• Swedish: band (sv), tom (sv) c

large or scholarly book — see also doorstop

• Bulgarian: тухла (bg) (tuhla)
• Catalan: totxo (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巨著 (zh) (jùzhù), 大部頭 / 大部头 (dàbùtóu)

• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: opus (fi), teos (fi)
• French: pavé (fr) m
• German: Wälzer (de) m, Schinken (de) m
• Greek: τόμος (el) m (tómos)
• Hungarian: salabakter (hu), tómusz
• Irish: mórleabhar m
• Italian: librone (it) m
• Japanese: 大冊 (たいさつ, taisatsu), 大著 (たいちょ, taicho)
• Polish: księga (pl) f
• Portuguese: tomo (pt) m, calhamaço (pt) m, alfarrábio (pt) m
• Russian: том (ru) m (tom)
• Spanish: mamotreto (es) m, librote m, tocho (es) m
• Swedish: lunta (sv), tom (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} doðrantur m

Anagrams

• Mote, mote

Asturian

Verb

tome

1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of tomar

French

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin tomus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tom/, /tɔm/

Noun

tome m (plural tomes)

1. tome, volume
2. section
3. subaltern

Descendants

• → English: tome
• → Romanian: tom
• → Russian: том m (tom)
• → Ukrainian: том (tom)

Etymology 2

tome / tomme de Savoie

Borrowed from Franco-Provençal tôma, of obscure origin.

Alternative forms

• tomme

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔm/
• Rhymes: -ɔm

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

tome f (plural tomes)

2. a variety of mountain cheese

Further reading

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

References

• Oxford University Press (2016): The Oxford Companion to Cheese

Galician

Verb

tome

1. inflection of tomar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Japanese

Romanization

tome

1. Rōmaji transcription of とめ

Latin

Noun

tome m

1. vocative singular of tomus

References

• “tome”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tome”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English tōm and Old Norse tómr, both from Proto-Germanic *tōmaz (“free, clear, empty”).

Adjective

tome

1. empty, hollow

Alternative forms

• tom, toume, tombe; toyme, tum, tume (Northern)

Descendants

• English: toom
• Scots: tume, tuim

References

• “tọ̄m(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse tom (“leisure, ease”). Compare Icelandic tóm (“empty space; leisure”).

Noun

tome (uncountable)

1. free time, leisure

Alternative forms

• tom, thome; tame (Northern)

Descendants

• English: toom
• Middle Scots: tume, toym, toyme, toume

References

• “tọ̄m(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

Adjective

tome

1. (Southwest, southern West Midland) alternative form of tame (“tame”)

Nias

Noun

tome (mutated form dome)

1. guest

References

• Sundermann, Heinrich. 1905. Niassisch-deutsches Wörterbuch. Moers: Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, p. 219.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

tome

1. (non-standard since 2012) definite singular of tom
2. (non-standard since 2012) plural of tom

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtõ.mi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔ.mɨ/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: to‧me

Verb

tome

1. inflection of tomar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

tome

1. inflection of tomar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative