Etymologically
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linea

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈliː.ne.a][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈliː.ne.a][1]

Forms

līnea f (genitive līneae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is the feminine of līneus “of flax”, from līnum “flax”.[2][1][3] It is also spelled ⟨līnia⟩.[2][4] Isidore says it is so called because it is made of flax.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of a string.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant a linen thread, string, as in Plautus and Varro, a fishing line in Seneca, and in Ulpian and Martial a string of pearls, a necklace.[2][4][7] From Cato it meant the cord of builders and surveyors, a plumb line, and ad līneam or rēctā līneā “in a straight line”.[2] From Cicero it meant a line drawn with a pen, in Pliny the Elder an outline or the hour line of a sundial, in Livy a streak of colour, and in Varro a line in geometry.[2] In Seneca it meant a boundary line, in Ovid a rope marking off seats in the theatre, and in Horace the finishing line.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant linen, a line or thread.[8] Medieval Latin used it for a line of kinship, a lineage, a line of writing, and an era, and for a linen shirt or alb.[9] It survives in Italian linea, French ligne and Portuguese linha, and with Old English line it gave English line.[1][10]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a string.[2][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a builder's line.[2][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it in geometry.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a drawn line.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A string, cord; a fishing line; a necklace.[2]
  2. A builder's line, plumb line, ad līneam, in a straight line.[2]
  3. A drawn line; an outline.[2]
  4. A streak.[2]
  5. (geometry) A line; an alignment.[2]
  6. A boundary; the finishing line.[2]
  7. (Medieval Latin) A lineage; a line of writing.[9]

Word family

  • līneālis
  • līneāmentum
  • līneāris
  • līneārius
  • līneō
  • līneola
  • directilineus
  • rēctilīneus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com