isthmus

See also: Isthmus

English

WOTD – 5 November 2010

An isthmus (narrow strip of land).

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin isthmus (“a strip of land between two seas”), from Ancient Greek ῐ̓σθμός (isthmós, “neck, narrow passage”), possibly from εἶμῐ (eîmi, “to go”). Cognate to Old Norse eið (“isthmus”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɪsθ.məs/, /ˈɪs.məs/, /ˈɪz.məs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɪs.məs/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈɪst.məs/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪsməs

Noun

isthmus (plural isthmuses or isthmi)

1. A narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water, and connecting two larger landmasses.

   Hyponym: Isthmus of Suez

2. (anatomy) Any such narrow part connecting two larger structures.

   Hyponym: uterine isthmus

3. (graph theory) An edge in a graph whose deletion increases the number of connected components of the graph.

Derived terms

• isthmic
• isthmo-, isthm-
• isthmoid
• isthmusectomy
• Isthmus-Mecayapan Nahuatl
• Isthmus Nahuatl
• Isthmus Zapotec

 

Translations

strip of land

• Albanian: rrypinë (sq) f
• Arabic: بَرْزَخ (ar) m (barzaḵ)
• Armenian: պարանոց (hy) (paranocʻ)
• Asturian: ismu m
• Azerbaijani: berzah, boyun (az)
• Basque: istmo
• Belarusian: перашы́ек m (pjerašýjek), пярэ́смык m (pjarésmyk)
• Bulgarian: про́влак (bg) m (próvlak)
• Catalan: istme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 地峽／地峡 (zh) (dìxiá)

• Crimean Tatar: boyun
• Czech: převlaka f, šíje (cs) f
• Danish: landtange c
• Dutch: landengte (nl) f, istmus (nl) m
• Esperanto: terkolo
• Estonian: maakitsus
• Faroese: eiði n, eið n
• Finnish: kannas (fi)
• French: isthme (fr) m
• Galician: istmo (gl) m
• Georgian: ყელი (ka) (q̇eli)
• German: Isthmus (de) m, Landenge f, Landbrücke (de) f
• Greek: ισθμός (el) m (isthmós)

  Ancient: ἰσθμός m (isthmós)

• Guaraní: yvyjyva
• Hawaiian: pūʻali
• Hebrew: מיצר \ מֵצַר (he) m (meitsár)
• Hindi: स्थलडमरूमध्य m (sthalḍamrūmadhya), भूडमरुमध्य m (bhūḍamrumadhya), योजक (hi) m (yojak), भू-संधि f (bhū-sandhi), संयोग भूमि f (sañyog bhūmi)
• Hungarian: földszoros (hu), földhíd, ^{(please verify)} földnyelv (hu)
• Icelandic: eiði n, grandi m
• Ido: istmo (io)
• Indonesian: daratan sempit, tanah genting (id)
• Irish: cuing f
• Italian: istmo (it) m, braccio di terra m
• Japanese: 地峡 (ちきょう, chikyō), 峡部 (きょうぶ, kyōbu)
• Kazakh: мойнақ (kk) (moinaq)
• Khmer: បួរដី (km) (buədəy)
• Korean: 지협(地峽) (ko) (jihyeop), 협부(峽部) (hyeopbu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: berzax (ku)

• Kyrgyz: моюн (ky) (moyun)
• Lao: ຄໍ (lo) (khǭ), ກີ່ວ (kīu)
• Latin: isthmus m
• Latvian: zemesšaurums m, šaurums (lv) m
• Lithuanian: sąsmauka f
• Macedonian: провлак m (provlak)
• Malay: segenting
• Manx: quing hallooin f
• Maori: kūititanga
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хүзүүвч (mn) (xüzüüvč)

• Northern Sami: muotki
• Northern Sotho: molalanaga ?
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: eid (no) n

  Nynorsk: eid n

• Old Norse: eið n
• Ossetian: къубалӕг (k’ubalæg)
• Persian: برزخ (fa) (barzax)
• Polish: przesmyk (pl) m, istm (pl) m, istmus m, międzymorze n
• Portuguese: istmo (pt) m
• Romanian: istm (ro) n
• Russian: переше́ек (ru) m (perešéjek)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: земљоуз m

  Roman: zemljouz m

• Slovak: úžina f, šija f
• Slovene: ožina (sl) f, zemeljska ožina (sl) f
• Spanish: istmo (es) m
• Swedish: näs (sv) n, ed (sv) n

  Old Swedish: ēþ n

• Tagalog: tangkay (tl), dalahikan
• Tajik: барзах (barzax), гардана (gardana)
• Tatar: муентык (muyentıq)
• Thai: คอคอด (th) (kɔɔ-kɔ̂ɔt)
• Turkish: berzah (tr), kıstak (tr)
• Turkmen: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: переши́йок m (perešýjok)
• Urdu: خاکنائے m (xāknāē)
• Uyghur: بويۇن (boyun)
• Uzbek: boʻyin (uz)
• Vietnamese: eo đất (vi)
• Welsh: culdir m
• West Frisian: lâningte (fy) c

part connecting two anatomical structures

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 峽／峡 (zh) (xiá)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: kannas (fi)
• Italian: istmo (it) m
• Kazakh: қылта (qylta)
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: перемы́чка (ru) f (peremýčka)

edge in a graph

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: kannas (fi)
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: ребро́ (ru) n (rebró)

References

• Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎^[1], volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 7.736, page 225.
• “isthmus”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “isthmus”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Latin

Alternative forms

• isthmos (unadapted)

Etymology

Borrowing from Ancient Greek ῐ̓σθμός (isthmós, “neck, narrow passage”), possibly from εἶμῐ (eîmi, “to go”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈistʰ.mus/, [ˈɪs̠t̪ʰmʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈist.mus/, [ˈist̪mus]

Noun

isthmus m (genitive isthmī); second declension

1. a strip of land between two seas; an isthmus
   1. (transferred sense, poetic) a strait

Usage notes

• Capitalised as Isthmus, it refers to the Isthmus of Corinth.

Inflection

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	isthmus	isthmī
Genitive	isthmī	isthmōrum
Dative	isthmō	isthmīs
Accusative	isthmum	isthmōs
Ablative	isthmō	isthmīs
Vocative	isthme	isthmī

Derived terms

• Isthmus

Descendants

Descendants of isthmus in other languages

• → Asturian: ismu
• → Catalan: istme
• → Dutch: istmus
• → English: isthmus
• → Esperanto: istmo
  • Ido: istmo
• → French: isthme
  • → Romanian: istm
• → Galician: istmo
• → German: Isthmus
• → Italian: istmo
• → Portuguese: istmo
• → Spanish: istmo
  • → Basque: istmo

References

• “Isthmus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Further reading

• isthmus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.