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rima

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word rima

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin rima
Latin rimor

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈriː.ma][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈriː.ma][1]

Forms

rīma f (genitive rīmae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2] De Vaan notes that several etymologies are possible in theory: a form ⟨*h₁reiḱ-sm-h₂-⟩, “breach”, from the root of rīxa (“quarrel”), meaning to tear, would give the Latin word, but so would other preforms.[2] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *(H)reyH- (“to tear, cut”), and the OLD compares Latvian riêva (“furrow, fold, cleft”).[1][3] Lewis & Short, following older views, connected it with ringor (“to open the mouth wide”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.[5] De Vaan dates it from Cato.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a narrow cleft, crack or chink: Horace has a narrow chink, and Ovid a wall split by a thin crack made when it was built.[4][3] With ⟨agere⟩ it is to develop cracks: Cicero writes that two of his shops have collapsed and the rest are cracking.[3] Virgil calls lightning a fiery rent in the clouds.[3] In medicine it is a chap or crack in the skin, as in Celsus and Pliny the Elder.[3] Wiktionary records a vulgar sense, the vulva.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of cracking shops.[3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of lightning as a fiery rent.[3][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of chapped lips.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A narrow cleft, crack, fissure, chink;[3][4][1] rīmās agere, to crack.[3][4][1]
  2. ignea rīma, a flash of lightning.[3]
  3. In medicine, a chap in the skin.[3]
  4. Vulgar, the vulva.[1]

Word family

  • rīmābundus
  • rīmātim
  • rīmātor

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Rima.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/rima. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·