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lime

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English has three words spelled lime: the calcium compound, the linden tree and the citrus fruit.[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /laɪm/[3]

lime1 calcium oxide; birdlime

Etymology

Lime, the mineral, is inherited from Middle English lim, inherited from Old English līm (“sticky substance, birdlime; mortar”),[1][4][2] from Proto-Germanic *līmą,[4][1] cognate with Old Saxon līm, Dutch lijm, German Leim (“birdlime”) and Old Norse lím,[1][4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *sleyH- (“slime, sticky”), also the source of Latin līmus (“mud”) (see slime).[4][2] It is related to loam.[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sticky substance, birdlime, spread on twigs to catch birds: before 700 in the OED, about 700 in Barnhart.[5][1][4]

Semantic evolution

Mortar or cement for building is from about 725,[5] and the alkaline earth calcium oxide, made by burning limestone or shells, from before 1000.[5][4] Lime-kiln is from the late 13th century and limestone from before 1398.[4][1] The verb, to cement, is Old English, and to treat land with lime from 1649.[1]

Timeline

  • before 700 – birdlime.[5]
  • c. 725 – mortar.[5]
  • before 1000 – calcium oxide.[5]
  • late 13th century – lime-kiln.[4]
  • before 1398 – limestone.[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Calcium oxide, a white alkaline substance made by heating limestone, or calcium hydroxide; quicklime.
  2. Calcium compounds spread on land to improve the soil.
  3. Birdlime.

Verb

  1. To treat with lime, or to smear or catch with birdlime.

Word family

  • limestone
  • limelight
  • lime-kiln
  • quicklime
  • birdlime

lime2 linden tree

Etymology

The tree is an unexplained alteration of earlier line (about 1510),[2][1][6] itself inherited from Middle English lynde, inherited from Old English lind (see linden).[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

1625, in Bacon's Essays.[1][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1325 – lynde.[1]
  • c. 1510 – line.[1]
  • 1625 – lime.[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A linden tree of the genus Tilia.

lime3 citrus fruit

Etymology

The fruit is borrowed from Spanish lima (or limão),[1][4][2] from Arabic لِيمَة (līma, “citrus fruit”),[1][4][2] probably a back-formation from لِيمُون (līmūn, “lemon”), from Persian لیمون (limun).[1][4] It is related to lemon.[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

1638 in Barnhart and the OED, the 1630s in Etymonline.[1][5][4]

Semantic evolution

Yule and Burnell thought the English got the word from the Portuguese in India.[4] Lime-green as a colour is by 1883.[4]

Timeline

  • 1638 – lime, the fruit.[1][5]
  • 1883 – lime green.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A small green citrus fruit with acid juice, or the tree Citrus aurantifolia that bears it.
  2. A yellowish-green colour.

Word family

  • limeade
  • limey
  • lime green

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press