Etymologically
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limen

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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
  • 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.