spongia

See also: Spongia

Latin

Alternative forms

• spongea

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σπογγιά (spongiá), from σπόγγος (spóngos). Doublet of fungus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈspon.ɡi.a/, [ˈs̠pɔŋɡiä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈspon.d͡ʒi.a/, [ˈspɔn̠ʲd͡ʒiä]

Noun

spongia f (genitive spongiae); first declension

1. A sponge.
2. (by extension) pumice, or other things resembling a sponge.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	spongia	spongiae
genitive	spongiae	spongiārum
dative	spongiae	spongiīs
accusative	spongiam	spongiās
ablative	spongiā	spongiīs
vocative	spongia	spongiae

Derived terms

• spongiō
• spongiōsus
• spongius
• xylospongium

Descendants

Descendants

• Vulgar Latin: *sponga
  • Old French: espoinge, espoigne
    • Middle French: esponge
      • French: éponge
      • Norman: êponge
    • → Middle Dutch: sponge
      • Dutch: spons
        • Afrikaans: spons
        • Negerhollands: spons, sponsje
        • → Caribbean Javanese: sepons
        • → Papiamentu: spòns, spons
        • → Sranan Tongo: sponsu
• → Albanian: sfungjer
• Aromanian: spingiu
• Asturian: esponxa
• Catalan: esponja
• Friulian: sponze, sponge
• → Hungarian: spongya (archaic)
• Italian: spugna
• → Old English: spunge
  • → English: sponge (see there for further descendants)
• Old Galician-Portuguese: espunlha
  • Galician: espulla
• → Old Galician-Portuguese: esponsa, sponssa (semi-learned)
  • Fala: esponja
  • Galician: esponxa
  • Portuguese: esponja (see there for further descendants)
• Romanian: spânz
• → Romanian: spongie
• Sardinian: spòngia, ispòngia, ispunzòla, ispanzola
• → Serbo-Croatian: spužva
• Sicilian: sfincia, sponza
• Spanish: esponja
• Venetan: sponxa, sponga
• Translingual: Spongia
• →⇒ Translingual: Sclerospongiae

Uncertain derivations:

• Portuguese: espúndia
• Spanish: espundia

References

• “spongia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “spongia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• spongia 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)
• spongia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “spongia”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “spongia”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin