linealis

Forms

līneālis (neuter līneāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin līnea (“line”) + -ālis.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ammianus Marcellinus (about 390 AD) is the first author to use it,^[2][5] meaning made of lines: a coastline with its straight length forms the likeness of a bowstring between the two ends of a bow, and the architect about to found the walls of Alexandria sprinkled all their lined circuits with flour.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Martianus Capella has the adverb līneāliter, by means of lines.^[3][6] In British Medieval Latin it meant made of straight lines, and was used of numbers, of an order in a row and of descent in a family line.^[7] Bohemian sources use it of what is written on lines.^[8] English took it, through Old French, as lineal in the late 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of the lined circuits of walls.^[2][5]
• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella has the adverb līneāliter.^[3][5]
• late 14th century – English borrows it, through Old French, as lineal.^[4]
• 1402 – A British record uses it of descent by blood.^[7][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Consisting of or made with lines, linear.^[3][6][9]
2. (Medieval Latin) In a straight line; of an order, in a row.^[7]
3. (Medieval Latin) Of descent, lineal, in a family line.^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Written on lines.^[8]

Related words

• līnea
• English lineal

Usage notes

The TLL compares the synonym līneāris.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d 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 Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.