limen

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈliː.mɛn]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈliː.men]^[1]

Forms

līmen n (genitive līminis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from the base of līmus “transverse, oblique”, with the suffix -men, first a crossbar.^[2][3][1] līmes “boundary” is from the same base.^[2] The Thesaurus is less certain of the link.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it of the upper beam of a door.^[3][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was one of the cross-beams of a doorframe, the lintel (līmen superum) or the sill (līmen īnferum), as in Plautus.^[3][6] By extension it was the threshold, doorway or entrance, a house or home, and an approach or beginning, as the threshold of life.^[3][1]

In medieval Latin līmina apostolōrum were the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul in Rome and the Holy See.^[7] English eliminate comes from ēlīminō “to put out of doors”, and limit from līmes.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the lintel.^[3][5]
• c. 1400 – English limit is recorded, from līmes.^[8]
• 1560s – English eliminate is recorded, from ēlīmināre.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cross-beam of a door: the lintel or the sill.^[3][9]
2. A threshold, doorway, entrance.^[3][1]
3. A house, home.^[1][10]
4. A threshold, beginning.^[3][1]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Līmina apostolōrum, the tombs of the apostles in Rome; the Holy See.^[7]

Word family

• ēlīminō
• līmināris
• prōlīmen
• superlīmen
• postlīminium

Related words

• līmus
• līmes
• English eliminate
• English limit
• English liminal

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b 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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.