minimus

English

Etymology

From Latin . See minim.

Noun

minimus (plural minimi or minimuses)

  1. (obsolete) A being of the smallest size.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
      Get you gone, you dwarf;
      You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;
      You bead, you acorn.
  2. (dated) The youngest pupil in a school having a particular surname.
    Jones Minimus wants to join the rowing team.
  3. (anatomy) The little finger or the little toe

Translations
the fifth digit — see little finger,‎ little toe

References

Latin

Alternative forms
  • minumus (Republican Latin)

Etymology

Suppletive superlative of parvus, comparative minor, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mey(h₁)- (“small, little”), whence also Latin minuō, Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌹𐌶𐌰 (minniza, “smaller”). Contains the same suffix as in īnfimus (“lowest”), but details are uncertain.[1] Related to Ancient Greek μῑκρός (mīkrós, “little, small”), English smicker.

Pronunciation
  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈmi.ni.mus/, [ˈmɪnɪmʊs̠]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈmi.ni.mus/, [ˈmiːnimus]
  • Audio (Classical)(file)

Adjective

minimus (feminine minima, neuter minimum); first/second declension

  1. superlative degree of parvus

Declension

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Antonyms

Descendants
  • Italian: menomo
  • ⇒ Franco-Provençal: amermar
  • Old French: merme
    • ⇒? French: marmot
    • ⇒ Old French: doi marme (“little finger”)
  • ⇒ Lombard: marmel, marmelin (“little finger”)
    • → Sicilian: barbeḍin (“little finger”)
  • ⇒ Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • Galician: mouminho (“smallest”), me(i)minho (“little finger”)
    • Portuguese: meiminho, mendinho (“little finger”)
  • >? Old Galician-Portuguese: meninho (“boy”), minhinho; meninno, menỹo
    • Galician: meniño
    • Portuguese: menino (see there for further descendants)
  • → Catalan: mínim (learned)
  • → English: minimum (learned)
  • → French: minime, minimum (learned)
  • → Galician: mínimo (learned)
  • → German: Minimum (learned)
  • → Italian: minimo (learned)
  • → Piedmontese: mìnim (learned)
  • → Portuguese: mínimo (learned)
  • → Romanian: minim (learned)
  • → Russian: ми́нимум (mínimum) (learned)
  • → Spanish: mínimo (learned)

References
  1. Weiss, Michael L. (2009) Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin‎, Ann Arbor: Beech Stave Press, →ISBN, pages 360-61

Further reading
  • “minimus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “minimus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • minimus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) the faintest suspicion: suspicio tenuissima, minima
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.