linum

See also: Linum, línum, and línům

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *līnom, likely from Proto-Indo-European *līnom.

Cognates include Old English līne (“line, rope, cord”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌽 (lein) and other derivatives of Proto-Germanic *līną, although Pokorny proposed it is a borrowing from Latin.

Although Greek λίνον (línon), Lithuanian linas, Russian лён (ljon) are sometimes listed as cognates, they actually derive from *lino- with a short /i/.

Celtic and Albanian words for linen probably derive from Latin, although Celtic languages retained possibly related cloth terms with a short /i/ (see *linnā).

Considering also the existence of a Latin root with a short /i/ and a /t/ (linteum), reconstruction of a common PIE protoform is impossible, and no similarly sounding terms are attested outside of Europe.

If such roots were borrowed from one or several non-IE languages, as proposed by Machek, locating the source is impossible because cultivation of linen was ubiquitous in the region since the Neolithic.

Alternatively, Fick proposed derivation as a passive past participle from Proto-Indo-European *lei- (“to flow, pour”) because flax is soaked in water during its retting.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.num/, [ˈlʲiːnʊ̃ˑ]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈli.num/, [ˈliːnum]

Noun

Latin Wikipedia has an article on:

linum

Wikipedia ^la

līnum n (genitive līnī); second declension

flax
linen cloth; garment made of linen
rope, line, string, thread, cord, cable
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.239–240:
  fēsta diēs illīs, quī līna madentia dūcunt,
  quīque tegunt parvīs aera recurva cibīs
  The day [is] a festival for those who pull [their] dripping lines, and who hide [their] hooked bronze in little bits [of] food.
  (In other words, a holiday for fishermen, whose hooks are drawn with dripping lines. Although fishermen also use dripping nets, in that case rētia madentia would seem more likely word choices.)
net for hunting or fishing
wick of a lamp
sail

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	līnum	līna
Genitive	līnī	līnōrum
Dative	līnō	līnīs
Accusative	līnum	līna
Ablative	līnō	līnīs
Vocative	līnum	līna

Synonyms

(rope, cord): chorda, cōpula, fūnis, mītra, restis, retināculum, rudēns

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

→ Albanian: li
Aromanian: ljin, ljinu
Asturian: llinu, ḷḷinu
Catalan: lli
→ English: linoleum, lino
French: lin
Friulian: lin
Italian: lino
Megleno-Romanian: ľin
Norman: lîn
Occitan: lin
Old Galician-Portuguese: lỹo, lynno (late)
- Galician: liño
- Portuguese: linho
Romanian: in
Sardinian: linu
Sicilian: linu
Spanish: lino
Translingual: Linum
Venetian: lin
Welsh: llin

References

“linum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“linum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
linum 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)
linum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- to open a letter: epistulam solvere, aperire, resignare (of Romans also linum incīdere)
“linum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “līnum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 344

Volapük

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /liˈnum/

Noun

linum (nominative plural linums)

flax

Declension

declension of linum

	singular	plural
nominative	linum	linums
genitive	linuma	linumas
dative	linume	linumes
accusative	linumi	linumis
vocative ¹	o linum!	o linums!
predicative ²	linumu	linumus

¹ status as a case is disputed
² in later, non-classical Volapük only