Translingual

Etymology

Latin gemma ‎(“jewel”)

Proper noun

Gemma f

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Veneridae – the type species being the amethyst gem clam.

Hypernyms

• (genus): Mollusca - phylum, Bivalvia - class, Heterodonta - subclass, Veneroida - order, Veneroidea - superfamily, Veneridae - family

English

Alternative forms

• (given name) Jemma

Proper noun

Gemma

1. A female given name.
   • 1971 Ruth Rendell, No More Dying Then, Random House (2009), ISBN 9780099534853, page 35:

     Gemma. A curious name. He didn't think he had ever come across it before. She would have an outlandish name, either because her equally eccentric parents had labelled her with it or—more likely—she had adopted it herself on the grounds of originality.

   • 1998 Lisa Andrews, Too Late For Love, Robinson Pub. 1998, ISBN 1854875914, page 200:

     Gemma gave him another gushing smile. She wanted to make amends for almost fouling up Blake's deal. "Gemma. What a beautiful name. You are indeed a jewel."

2. (astronomy): A bright binary star in the constellation Corona Borealis; Alpha (α) Coronae Borealis.

Usage notes

• Popular given name in the U.K. in the 1980s and the 1990s.

Translations

Italian

Etymology

Latin gemma ‎(“jewel”), with identical meaning in Italian.

Proper noun

Gemma f

1. A female given name, notably of Dante's wife, and of a 19th/20th century saint.

Anagrams

• gamme

English

Gemmae on a leaf tip of Syntrichia papillosa

Noun

gemma ‎(plural gemmae)

1. (botany) A bud; an asexual reproductive structure, as found in liverworts and hydra, able to produce new individuals from a cluster of cells.
   • 1969, Rudolf Mathias Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America East of the Hundredth Meridian, Volume 1, Columbia University Press, page 527,

     I know of no other genera with such intramarginal formation of true gemmae.

   • 1990, Anthony John Edwin Smith, The Liverworts of Britain and Ireland, page 2,

     Gemmae are frequently longer than wide or of irregular shape.

     According to Degenkolbe, gemmae-bearing leaves are always different in form from normal leaves.

   • 2005, R. N. Chopra, Biology of Bryophytes, page 32,

     In Marchantia polymorpha, high temperature promotes germination of gemmae (Dacknowski, 1907), and heat absorbed by the gemmae accelerates their germination (Fitting, 1942).

Derived terms

• gemmoid

Translations

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin gemma.

Noun

gemma f ‎(plural gemmes)

1. gem, jewel

Interlingua

Noun

gemma ‎(plural gemmas)

1. gem

Italian

Etymology

From Latin gemma.

Noun

gemma f ‎(plural gemme)

1. bud
2. gem, jewel

Verb

gemma

1. third-person singular present indicative of gemmare
2. second-person singular imperative of gemmare

Anagrams

• gamme

Latin

Etymology

Two possibilities include:

• Proto-Indo-European *gembʰ- ‎(“nail, tooth”)
• Proto-Italic *gen- ‎(“to produce”)

Noun

gemma f ‎(genitive gemmae); first declension

1. A bud or eye of a plant.
2. A jewel.
3. A thing made of precious stones.

Inflection

First declension.

Related terms

• gemmarius
• gemmatus
• gemmeus
• gemmifer
• gemmo

Descendants

References

• gemma in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• gemma in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• GEMMA in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “gemma”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the trees are budding: gemmae proveniunt
    
• gemma in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• gemma in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin