cacumen
English
Etymology
Latin cacūmen
Noun
cacumen (plural cacumina)
- (obsolete, physics) The smallest possible piece of matter, making up part of an atom.
Latin
Etymology
Cognate to Sanskrit ककुद् (kakúd, “peak, summit, point; head, chief; hump, projection; palate, tongue”), which similarly preserves the original sense of projection in any direction, and the particular sense of the humped shoulders of an animal. The semantics of the denominal verb are influenced by acūmen.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /kaˈkuː.men/, [käˈkuːmɛn]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /kaˈku.men/, [käˈkuːmen]
Noun
cacūmen n (genitive cacūminis); third declension
- peak, extremity, top, summit
- Synonyms: vertex, apex, culmen, fastīgium, summitās
- Antonym: fundus
- end, limit
- Synonyms: līmes, fīnis, modus
- (grammar) accent mark placed over a letter
Declension
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | cacūmen | cacūmina |
| Genitive | cacūminis | cacūminum |
| Dative | cacūminī | cacūminibus |
| Accusative | cacūmen | cacūmina |
| Ablative | cacūmine | cacūminibus |
| Vocative | cacūmen | cacūmina |
Derived terms
- cacūminō
Descendants
- English: cacuminous, cacuminal
- Italian: cacume
References
- “cacumen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “cacumen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- cacumen 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)
- cacumen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- “cacume” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN
Spanish
Etymology
From Latin cacūmen.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kaˈkumen/ [kaˈku.mẽn]
- Rhymes: -umen
- Syllabification: ca‧cu‧men
Noun
cacumen m (plural cacúmenes)
- (colloquial) acumen
- 1877, Benito Pérez Galdós, Gloria:
- Escopetas, carabinas, cuchillos, trampas, mil artificios ingeniosos, ora aprendidos, ora inventados por su propio genial cacumen, y que tenían por objeto apoderarse de la mitad del reino volátil, ocupaban una regular pieza.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
-
- (obsolete) peak; summit
Further reading
- “cacumen”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014