lino

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈlɪ.noː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈliː.no]^[1]

Forms

linō (present infinitive linere, perfect active lēvī, supine litum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *lina- (“to smear”), a nasal present of Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”).^[2][1] Cognate with Welsh llynu (“to besmear”), Old Irish lenaid (“sticks, follows”), Hittite 𒄩𒇷𒈾 (ḫalīna-, “clay”) and Ancient Greek ἀλίνω (alínō, “to smear”).^[2][3] The perfect lēvī is not fully explained.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato, and a building contract of 105 BC requires walls to be plastered with sand lime.^[2][3] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to smear, coat or plaster with something, as wine jars sealed with pitch, and to smear on a substance, as Ovid's cosmetics.^[3][5] By transfer it was to overlay or cover, as Virgil's bees whose bodies are covered with spots and Ovid's roofs covered with gold.^[3] It could also mean to rub out writing on a wax tablet, and Horace speaks of writings fit to be smeared with cedar oil, that is, preserved.^[5][6]

Its noun litūra meant an erasure or blot.^[5] A fourth-conjugation form liniō is also found, and linīmentum gave English liniment.^[6][1]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.^[2][4]
• 105 BC – A building contract requires walls plastered with lime.^[3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace speaks of writings smeared with cedar oil.^[5][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid speaks of roofs covered with gold.^[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To smear, coat, plaster (with).^[3]
2. To smear on, apply (a substance).^[3]
3. To overlay, cover.^[3]
4. To rub out, erase (writing).^[5]

Word family

• allinō
• circumlinō
• collinō
• dēlinō
• ēlinō
• illinō
• interlinō
• linteō
• līs
• litūra
• lītus
• oblinō

Related words

• English liniment

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press