Etymologically
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lamina

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɫaː.mɪ.na][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlaː.mi.na][1]

Forms

lāmina f (genitive lāminae); first declension[1] It is also written lammina and, syncopated, lamna, as in Horace.[2][3][4]

Etymology

The only serious proposal connects it with lātus “wide”, from *stlātos, through a form Proto-Italic *stlāmen-.[2][1] The Oxford Latin Dictionary calls it doubtful.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a thin sheet or plate of metal, as in Cato, of wood, marble or horn, and in colloquial speech money, as in Petronius.[3][6] A red-hot plate was used to torture slaves, and it was also a saw blade, the flap of the ear and the soft shell of an unripe nut.[1]

In medieval Latin it was a metal plate used in ordeals or torture and in ornament.[7] It survives as French lame and Romanian lamă.[1] English lamina and laminate come from it, and its diminutive lāmella “small plate” gave French omelette, named from its flat shape.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses lamna of metal strips.[3][5]
  • 1610s – English omelet is recorded, from French, ultimately from lāmella.[8]
  • 1650s – English lamina is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A thin plate of metal; a leaf (of wood or marble).[3][4]
  2. (colloquial) Money.[3][1]
  3. A red-hot plate (for torture).[1][7]
  4. A saw blade; the flap of the ear.[1]

Word family

  • lāmella
  • lamnula
  • sublamina

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com