digitalis Latin · revision 4087

15 Oct 2026, 21:07 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Vitruvius|origins=la digitus}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [dɪ.ɡɪˈtaː.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [di.d͡ʒiˈtaː.lis]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''digitālis''' (neuter digitāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[af|la|digitus|-ālis|t1=finger]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Vitruvius uses it of channels and an opening a finger's breadth wide.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) Köbler dates Vitruvius about 84–25 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant measuring a finger's breadth or thickness, as in Pliny.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) A gloss gives the neuter ''digitāle'' for a finger-stall or glove finger.^(Georges 1913)
+ 
+ In medieval Latin it was a finger ring and a glove, and was used in music and geometry.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010)^(MLW) It survives in [[it|ditale]], [[fr|dé]] and [[es|dedal]] “thimble”.^(Wiktionary) English ''digital'' is recorded in the mid-15th century of numbers below ten, counted on the fingers, and in the 1650s of the fingers.^(Etymonline) The plant name ''digitalis'' “foxglove” was coined in the 1660s as a translation of German ''Fingerhut'' “thimble”.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a finger's breadth.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of thickness.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * mid-11th century – Ruodlieb uses it of a finger ring.^(Köbler 2010)
+ * mid-15th century – English ''digital'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1660s – The plant name ''digitalis'' is coined.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Of a finger's breadth or thickness.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Of or belonging to the [[m|en|finger]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ===Noun===
+ # ''digitāle'', a finger-stall.^(Georges 1913)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A finger [[m|en|ring]]; a glove.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[interdigitalia]]
+ * [[sēmidigitālis]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[digitus]]
+ * [[en|digital]]
+ * [[en|digitalis]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}