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cyma. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
cyma, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
cyma in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
cyma you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From New Latin cȳma (“young sprout or shoot of cabbage”) (whence the botanic usage of cyme), from Ancient Greek κῦμα (kûma, “swell, wave”, “cyma”, “sprout of a plant”), from κύω (kúō, “I conceive, I become pregnant”).
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Most English coinages on this root are formed on its short stem, κῡμ- (kūm-). The fact that the Ancient Greek etymon only inflects as a third-declension neuter noun has led some writers to prescribe forms that preserve the root’s long stem, κῡματ- (kūmat-), for philological reasons (see, for example, the 1903 and 1908 citations of cymatoscope), but such forms are rare.
Latinate phrases that include cyma, namely cyma inversa, cyma recta, and cyma reversa, show that, when employed as a Latin word, cȳma is treated as a first-declension feminine noun rather than as third-declension neuter consonant-stem noun.
There are several Classical precedents, both from Latin and from Ancient Greek, for formations on the short stem (κῡμ- (kūm-)) of this root, although formations on the long stem (κῡματ- (kūmat-)) are more common in Ancient Greek; consequently, whereas formations on the long stem may be preferable, especially when combined with other Ancient Greek elements, formations on the short stem are by no means incorrect.
Pronunciation
Noun
cyma (plural cymas or cymae or cymæ or cymata)
- (architecture) A moulding of the cornice, wavelike in form, whose outline consists of a concave and a convex line; an ogee.
- (botany) A cyme.
Derived terms
Translations
architecture: wavelike moulding of the cornice
References
- “‖ Cyma” listed on page 1,302 of volume II (C) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles
‖ Cyma (səi·mă). Also 6 syma, 6–9 sima, 7–8 scima, 8–9 cima. 1. Arch. A moulding of the cornice, the outline of which consists of a concave and a convex line; an ogee. Cyma recta: a moulding concave in its upper part, and convex in its lower part. Cyma reversa (rarely inversa): a moulding convex in its upper part, and concave in its lower part. 1563 Shute Archit. Ci b, 4 partes geue also to Sima reuersa. Ibid. Ciij b, That second parte which remayneth of the Modulus ye shall geue vnto Syma. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 267 Scima reversa..Scima recta, or Ogee. 1726 Leoni Alberti’s Archit. II. 34 b, A Cima inversa of the breadth of two minutes. 1761 Brit. Mag. II. 642 The true cima, or cimaise. 1850 Leitch Müller’s Anc. Art. § 249. 258 A base of several plinths and cymas. 2. Bot. = Cyme 1 and 2. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Cyma..the young Sprout of Coleworts, or other Herbs: a little Shoot, or Branch: But it is more especially taken by Herbalists for the top of any Plant. 1775 Lightfoot Flora Scotia (1792) I. 236 The cyma, or little umbel which terminates the branches.
- Sturgis, Russel. Cyma, in A Dictionary of Architecture and Building, Biographical, Historical,... MacMillan Co.:1901.
- “cyma”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “‖cyma” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
From the Ancient Greek κῦμα (kûma, “swell, wave, billow; fetus, embryo”), from κύω (kúō, “I am pregnant, I conceive”).
The Greek nominative plural is κῡ́ματα (kū́mata); *κυμαί (*kumaí), the first-declension nominative plural form which would give precedent to the Latin cȳmae, does not occur.
Pronunciation
Noun
cȳma n (genitive cȳmatis); third declension
cȳma f (genitive cȳmae); first declension
- young sprout or spring shoot of cabbage
- hollow sphere
- spherical layer, stratum
Declension
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- “cyma”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “cyma”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “cyma”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin