lineamentum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [liː.ne.aːˈmɛn.tũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [li.ne.aˈmɛn.tum]^[1]

Forms

līneāmentum n (genitive līneāmentī); second declension^[1] Also spelled līniāmentum.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin līnea (“line”) + -mentum.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Cicero.^[4] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant a line drawn or traced, a stroke, as in geometry in Cicero and in Petronius; in art, in the plural, the outlines of a figure, often figuratively; and the features of the face, lineaments, as in Cicero.^[2][3][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means feature, delineation, lineament, and in the plural an outline.^[6] Medieval Latin used it for a line of kinship, lineage.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of lines and features.^[2][4]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of a line drawn.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A line, stroke.^[2][3]
2. (plural) Outlines (of a figure).^[2]
3. (plural) Features, lineaments.^[2][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Lineage.^[7]

Related words

• līnea
• līneō
• English lineament

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill