limen Latin · revision 4849
16 Oct 2026, 00:25 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la līmus}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈliː.mɛn]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈliː.men]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''līmen''' ''n'' (genitive līminis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is derived from the base of [[līmus]] “transverse, oblique”, with the suffix [[m|la|-men]], first a crossbar.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) [[līmes]] “boundary” is from the same base.^(de Vaan 2008) The Thesaurus is less certain of the link.^(TLL)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Plautus uses it of the upper beam of a door.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was one of the cross-beams of a doorframe, the lintel (''līmen superum'') or the sill (''līmen īnferum''), as in Plautus.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) By extension it was the threshold, doorway or entrance, a house or home, and an approach or beginning, as the threshold of life.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ In medieval Latin ''līmina apostolōrum'' were the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul in Rome and the Holy See.^(Niermeyer 1976) English ''eliminate'' comes from [[ēlīminō]] “to put out of doors”, and ''limit'' from ''līmes''.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the lintel.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 1400 – English ''limit'' is recorded, from ''līmes''.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1560s – English ''eliminate'' is recorded, from ''ēlīmināre''.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A cross-beam of a door: the [[m|en|lintel]] or the [[m|en|sill]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ # A [[m|en|threshold]], doorway, entrance.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A house, home.^(Wiktionary)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ # A threshold, beginning.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' ''Līmina apostolōrum'', the tombs of the apostles in Rome; the Holy See.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[ēlīminō]]
+ * [[līmināris]]
+ * [[prōlīmen]]
+ * [[superlīmen]]
+ * [[postlīminium]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[līmus]]
+ * [[līmes]]
+ * [[en|eliminate]]
+ * [[en|limit]]
+ * [[en|liminal]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}