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digitus

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin digitus. Doublet of digit.

Noun

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digitus (plural digiti)

  1. (historical) An Ancient Roman unit of length, approximately 0.73 inches.
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Latin

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digitus manūs (digit of the hand)

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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    Traditionally derived from Proto-Italic *digitos, from Proto-Indo-European *deyǵ- (“to show, point out, pronounce solemnly”), variant of the root *deyḱ- that also gave Latin dīcō (“to say, speak talk”) and English toe; fingers were thus "pointers" or "indicators". De Vaan, however, is skeptical, as no other term exhibits a comparable change from *-ḱ- to a *-ǵ-.[1] The "number" sense comes from the fact that fingers were used for counting up to ten.

    Indo-European cognates include Sanskrit दिशति (diśáti, “to show, point out”), Ancient Greek δείκνῡμῐ (deíknūmĭ, “to show”), δῐ́κη (dĭ́kē, “manner, custom”), Old English tǣċan (“to show; to point out”, English teach) and tācn (“sign; token”, English token); compare the similar semantic shift in English teacher (“forefinger, index finger”). The relation to Ancient Greek δᾰ́κτῠλος (dắktŭlos, “finger”) is unclear, particularly as the latter term's phonetics suggest a substrate origin.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    digitus m (genitive digitī); second declension

    1. a finger, toe
    2. (mathematics) a digit, number
    3. an inch (in ancient times, a 16th part of a Roman foot)
    4. a twig

    Declension

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    Second-declension noun (alternative genitive plural in -um).

    singular plural
    nominative digitus digitī
    genitive digitī digitōrum
    digitum
    dative digitō digitīs
    accusative digitum digitōs
    ablative digitō digitīs
    vocative digite digitī

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    References

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    • “digitus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • “digitus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • "digitus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
    • “digitus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
      • to touch with the fingertips: extremis digitis aliquid attingere
    • “digitus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • “digitus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
    1. ^ 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 170-1

    Middle English

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    Noun

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    digitus

    1. alternative form of digit
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