lignum

English

Etymology 1

Latin lignum (“wood”)

Noun

lignum (uncountable)

1. (botany) Dead wood, typically in the context of a substrate for lichens.

Etymology 2

Contraction of polygonum (“plant of the family Polygonaceae”).

Related terms

• lignum nephriticum
• lignum rhodium
• lignum vitae

 

Noun

lignum (countable and uncountable, plural lignums)

1. A perennial shrub, Duma florulenta, native to semiarid areas of inland Australia.
2. Land covered by lignum.
   • 1992, Bob Magor, Blood on the Board, page 10:

     They assembled in the lignum / Where the Boss said pigs were thick.

Anagrams

• muling

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *legnom, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-no-m (“that which is collected”), from *leǵ- (“to collect”), with the Italic form interpreted as "wood collected for firemaking".

An alternative derivation from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”), and associated interpretation as "stray wood", seems equally possible, phonetically and semantically.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈliɡ.num/, [ˈlʲɪŋnʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈliɲ.ɲum/, [ˈliɲːum]

Noun

lignum n (genitive lignī); second declension

1. firewood
2. (later Latin) wood tissue
3. tree
   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Psalm.1.3:

     Et erit tamquam lignum transplantatum iuxta rivulos aquarum quod fructum suum dabit in tempore suo. Et folium eius non defluet et omne quod fecerit prosperabitur

     And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whosoever he shall do shall prosper (Douay-Rheims translation)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	lignum	ligna
genitive	lignī	lignōrum
dative	lignō	lignīs
accusative	lignum	ligna
ablative	lignō	lignīs
vocative	lignum	ligna

Derived terms

• lignāmen
• lignārius
• lignātiō
• lignātor
• ligneolus
• ligneus
• lignor
• lignōsus

 

Descendants

Several forms inherited from the plural ligna, reinterpreted as a feminine singular noun.

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: lemnu, lem
  • Istro-Romanian: lĕmnĕ
  • Megleno-Romanian: lemnu, lemu
  • Romanian: lemn
• Dalmatian:
  • lanc
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: legnu, legna, lenghju
  • Italian: legno, legna
  • Neapolitan: ligno, liuno, livuno, leuno
  • Sicilian: lignu, ligna
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: len
  • Istriot: lìgno, lìgna
  • Ladin: lën, legn, lënia, legna
  • Romansch: lain, laina, lenn, len
• Venetan:
  • Venetan: łegno, łen, łégna
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Emilian: laggna
  • Ligurian: légno
  • Lombard: légn, légna
  • Piedmontese: lëgna
  • Romagnol: lègn, lègna
  • Old French: legne, laigne, ligne
  • Picard: laigne, laingne
  • Walloon: legn
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Old Catalan: lenya
    • Catalan: llenya
  • Old Occitan: lenh, lenha
    • Occitan: lenha
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: lenya
  • Asturian: lleña, lleiña, ḷḷeiña, ḷḷeña, ḷḷeñe, lleñe, lleñi, cheña, yeñi, yeña
  • Mirandese: lheinha
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: lenha
    • Fala: leña
    • Galician: leña
    • Portuguese: lenha (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: lenho
    • Fala: leño
    • Galician: leño
    • Portuguese: lenho
  • Spanish: leño, leña
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: linna
• Borrowings:
  • → Esperanto: ligno
  • → Welsh: llwyn

References

• “lignum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lignum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lignum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• lignum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.