English

A cumulus cloud.

Noun

cumulus ‎(plural cumuli)

1. A large white puffy cloud that develops through convection. On a hot, humid day, they can form towers and even become cumulonimbus clouds.
   • 2007 September 1, "Who’s afraid of Google?: The world’s internet superpower faces testing times", in The Economist, The Economist Newspaper Ltd, ISSN 0013-0613, volume 384, number 8544, page 9,

     Ironically, there is something rather cloudlike about the multiple complaints surrounding Google. The issues are best parted into two cumuli: a set of “public” arguments about how to regulate Google; and a set of “private” ones for Google’s managers, to do with the strategy the firm needs to get through the coming storm.

2. A mound or heap.

Translations

Finnish

Etymology

< Latin

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkumulus/
• Hyphenation: cu‧mu‧lus

Noun

cumulus

1. cumulus (cloud)

Declension

Synonyms

• cumuluspilvi
• kumpupilvi

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ku-m-olo, from *ḱewh₁- ‎(“to swell”); see also Lithuanian saunas ‎(“firm, fit, solid, capable”), Ancient Greek κύω ‎(kúō), and Sanskrit श्वयति ‎(śvayati, “swell”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈku.mu.lus/, [ˈkʊ.mʊ.ɫʊs]

Noun

cumulus m ‎(genitive cumulī); second declension

1. heap, pile
2. surplus
3. summit

Inflection

Second declension.

Descendants

• English: cumulus, accumulate
• Greek: κούλουμα ‎(koúlouma)
• Italian: cumolo
• Portuguese cômoro, combro, cúmulo
• Spanish: colmo, cúmulo

References

• cumulus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cumulus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• CUMULUS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “cumulus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • his crowning happiness is produced by a thing; the culminating point of his felicity is..: ad felicitatem (magnus) cumulus accedit ex aliqua re
    
  • his crowning happiness is produced by a thing; the culminating point of his felicity is..: aliquid felicitatis cumulum affert
    
  • to add the crowning point to a person's joy: cumulum gaudii alicui afferre (vid. sect. V. 6) (Fam. 16. 21. 1)
    
• cumulus in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016