# lignum
## English
### Etymology 1

Latin lignum (“wood”)

#### Noun

lignum (uncountable)
* (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)
* A perennial shrub, Duma florulenta, native to semiarid areas of inland Australia.
* 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.

#### References

* ↑ “lignum, n.$^2$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

### 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: /ˈliɡ.num/, [ˈlʲɪŋnʊ̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈliɲ.ɲum/, [ˈliɲːum]

### Noun

lignum n (genitive lignī); second declension
* firewood
* (later Latin) wood tissue
* 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 prosperabiturAnd 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).

#### 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.
* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 340-1