Etymologically
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lima

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈliː.ma][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈliː.ma][1]

Forms

līma f (genitive līmae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][3] The etymology that Walde and Hofmann and Pokorny accept connects it with lēvis2 (“smooth”) and with Old High German slīm (“mud, slime”) and Old High German slīmen (“to polish, rub smooth”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *slei-;[2] the OLD and Köbler give this connection too.[4][5] Seldeslachts instead linked it to linō (“to smear”).[2] De Vaan objects to both that a file is not itself smooth but at most makes things smooth, which does not suit a noun in ⟨-ma⟩.[2]

Isidore of Seville explained the name by saying that the file makes things smooth.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[2] who uses it of a file in the Menaechmi.[7][3]

Semantic evolution

The literal file appears also in Vitruvius and Pliny the Elder, and Phaedrus tells of a viper that bit a file.[7][3] From Horace on it is used figuratively for the polishing and revision of a literary work:[4][3] Horace speaks of līmae labor et mora, “the toil and delay of the file”, and Ovid regrets that his writings lacked the last touch of the file.[4][7] Apuleius has ad līmam cōnsiliī, to sharpen up a plan.[4][7]

In medieval Latin līma is also a form of līmus1 “mud” and the name of a kind of sword.[8] The word survives in Italian lima.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a file.[7][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the revision of poems.[4][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid regrets that his writings lacked the last touch of the file.[4][5]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore derives the name from making smooth.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A file, especially a carpenter's.[4][3]
  2. (figurative) The polishing and revision of a literary work.[4][3]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A kind of sword.[8]

Word family

  • līmārius
  • līmō
  • līmula

Usage notes

A separate Līma, goddess of the threshold, is mentioned by Arnobius and is connected with līmen.[9][7][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn