Lintel: The word 'eliminate' shares the… | etymologist.ai
lintel
/ˈlɪntəl/·noun·c. 1375–1400, Middle English, attested in architectural and ecclesiastical texts·Established
Origin
From Latin limen ('threshold'), through Vulgar Latin *lintellus and Old French lintel, the word arrived in English by the 14th century — a sibling of liminal and eliminate, all sharing the same Roman doorstep.
Definition
A horizontal structural beam spanning the top of a doorway, window, or other opening, bearing the weight of the wall above it.
The Full Story
Old French12th–14th centurywell-attested
The word 'lintel' enters Middle English in the late 14th century, derived from Old French 'lintel' (also 'linteau'), meaning the horizontal beam or stone over a doorway. The Old French form descends from Vulgar Latin *limitellus or *lintellus, a diminutive of Latin 'limen' (genitive 'liminis'), meaning 'threshold, lintel, doorstep'. Latin 'limen' referred broadly to the threshold of a door — the boundary between inside and
Did you know?
Theword 'eliminate' shares the same Latin root as 'lintel'. Latin eliminare meant literally 'to drive out over the threshold' — e- (out) + limen (threshold). When the Romans eliminated something, they threw it out the door. The lintel above that door and the act of elimination are
of Limentinus, a deity of doorways, and Roman ritual prescribed that a bride be carried over the threshold to avoid ill omen. The word 'eliminate' derives from Latin 'eliminare' (ex + limen), literally 'to drive out over the threshold'. 'Liminal' — describing threshold states in psychology and anthropology — comes from the same root. The physical lintel and the abstract liminal are etymological siblings who diverged completely: one stayed structural, the other became entirely abstract. Key roots: *lei- / *lī- (Proto-Indo-European: "to let go, release, glide; by extension a threshold or passage point"), limen (liminis) (Latin: "threshold, doorstep, lintel; the boundary between interior and exterior space"), *lintellus (Vulgar Latin: "small threshold or crossbeam; diminutive form giving rise to Romance 'lintel' forms").