pilum
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin pilum.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpaɪləm/
- Rhymes: -aɪləm
Noun
pilum (plural pila or pilums)
- (historical) A Roman military javelin.
- 1776, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Penguin 2000:
- Besides a lighter spear, the Roman legionary grasped in his right hand the formidable pilum, a ponderous javelin whose utmost length was about six feet and which was terminated by a massy triangular point of steel of about eighteen inches.
- 2011, Ben Aaronovitch, Rivers of London, Gollancz 2011:
- Verica plucked a pilum from the hands of the nearest legionary – the soldier didn't react – and handed it to me.
-
- (botany) The columella on the surface of a pollen grain.
Translations
Roman military javelin
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References
pilum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
French
Noun
pilum m (plural pilums)
- pilum
Further reading
- “pilum”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
pīlum (throwing spear)
Etymology 1
From Proto-Italic *pistlom, from Proto-Indo-European *pis-tlo-, from *peys- (“to crush”). See pistillum and pīla.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpiː.lum/, [ˈpiːɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈpi.lum/, [ˈpiːlum]
Noun
pīlum n (genitive pīlī); second declension
- a pounder, pestle
- a javelin, throwing spear
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | pīlum | pīla |
| Genitive | pīlī | pīlōrum |
| Dative | pīlō | pīlīs |
| Accusative | pīlum | pīla |
| Ablative | pīlō | pīlīs |
| Vocative | pīlum | pīla |
Related terms
- pīnsō
Descendants
- Dutch: pijl
- English: pile
- French: pile
- German: Pfeil
- Italian: pilo, pillo
- → Portuguese: pilo (learned)
- Romanian: pil
- Spanish: pilo
- Swedish: pil
Noun
pilum
- accusative singular of pilus (“hair”)
References
- “pilum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “pilum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- pilum 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)
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- (ambiguous) to throw down the javelins (pila) and fight with the sword: omissis pilis gladiis rem gerere
- (ambiguous) to throw down the javelins (pila) and fight with the sword: omissis pilis gladiis rem gerere
- “pilum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “pilum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin