liman

Satellite photo of limans along the Black Sea coast

From Russian лима́н (limán) or Ukrainian лима́н (lymán), from Turkic, compare Turkish liman (“port, harbor”). Ultimately from Ancient Greek λιμήν (limḗn, “harbor”).

• IPA^(key): /lɪˈmɑn/

liman (plural limans)

1. A wide estuary formed as a lagoon at the mouth of one or more rivers, where flow is constrained by a bar of sediments (created by either the current of a sea or a sediment-saturated river), especially in the Black Sea region.
   • 1918, Stephen Rudnicki, Ukraine, the Land and Its People: An Introduction to Its Geography, page 19:

     Only at a point where a river, a streamlet, even a balka (step-glen, ravine) opens into the sea, is the steep incline of the steppe-plateau broken. […] This sea-water lake is called liman in Ukrainian. Wherever a stream of great volume empties into a liman, the bar is severed at one or more places.

   • 1993 December 15, Danylo Husar Struk, Encyclopedia of Ukraine: Volume V: St-Z, University of Toronto Press, →ISBN:

     Its rising provided conditions for the formation of liman valleys along the coast. As well, meltwaters from the ice cap produced ponding, with excess water that either spilled over the low points of divides or flowed along the ice […]

   • 2016 September 28, Ruben Kosyan, The Diversity of Russian Estuaries and Lagoons Exposed to Human Influence, Springer, →ISBN, page 123:

     Fig.5.12 The Akhtanizovsky liman delta arm
     […] certain limans, particularly those fed by river water, continued to decline naturally, whereas the square area of swamps, contrastingly, continued to increase. The first significant anthropogenic changes in the size and natural regime of the limans and flooded areas were initially connected with artificial changes in flow direction […]

• Because liman mud was sometimes used therapeutically, some English dictionaries beginning in the 1870s have incorrectly defined liman as alluvial (estuarine/deltal) slime rather than the estuary itself that deposits the slime, sometimes deriving the word from French limon (“silt”) rather than from Russian; this is a ghost sense.

• “liman”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Linam, Malin, Milan, lamin

Ultimately from Byzantine Greek λιμένιον (liménion), from Ancient Greek λιμήν (limḗn).

• IPA^(key): [liˈmɑn]
• Hyphenation: li‧man

• Audio

  (file)

liman (definite accusative limanı, plural limanlar)

1. port, haven, harbor

• hava limanı (“airport”)

From Byzantine Greek λιμένιον (liménion), from Ancient Greek λιμήν (limḗn).

liman

1. estuary
2. port, harbour, haven.

• Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎, Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN
• “liman”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

liman

1. accusative singular of lima

liman

1. genitive singular of lima

• Malin, ilman, malin

liman

1. third-person plural present indicative of limar

• limam

Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām).

• IPA^(key): /lìː.mân/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [lìː.mâŋ]

lī̀mân m (plural lī̀mā̀mai, possessed form lī̀māmìn)

1. (Islam) imam
2. The equivalent of an imam in other religions; in Christianity, a pastor or priest.

Affixed lima (“five”) +‎ -an, inherited from Malay liman (“elephant”), from Javanese ꦭꦶꦩꦤ꧀ (liman), from Old Javanese liman.

• IPA^(key): /ˈli.man/
• Rhymes: -man
• Hyphenation: li‧man

liman (plural liman-liman, first-person possessive limanku, second-person possessive limanmu, third-person possessive limannya)

1. (archaic) elephant

   Synonym: gajah

• “liman” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

liman

1. Romanization of ꦭꦶꦩꦤ꧀

Borrowed from Javanese ꦭꦶꦩꦤ꧀ (liman), possibly from lima +‎ -an; related to Proto-Chamic *lamaːn[1] (compare Jarai rơman, Western Cham limân, Rade êman). Doublet of leman.

• IPA^(key): /liman/
• Rhymes: -iman, -man, -an

liman (Jawi spelling ليمن, plural liman-liman, informal 1st possessive limanku, 2nd possessive limanmu, 3rd possessive limannya)

1. (archaic) elephant.

   Synonyms: leman, gajah, biram

• > Indonesian: liman (inherited)

• Wilkinson, Richard James. An Abridged Malay-English Dictionary. Macmillan. 1965.
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1901) “ليمن leman”, in A Malay-English dictionary, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh limited, page 629
• Wilkinson, Richard James (1932) “liman”, in A Malay-English dictionary (romanised), volume II, Mytilene, Greece: Salavopoulos & Kinderlis, page 58

• “liman” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Unknown, probably lima +‎ -an.

liman

1. elephant

   Synonyms: aliman, asti, dipak, dwipa, dwipak, dwipāṅga, dwipendra, dwirada, dwiradarāja, dwirĕge, gaja, gajah, haliman, hasti, ibha, kuñjara, liman, mantĕṅga, mātaṅga, matĕṅga, nāga, pataṅgi, sāmaja, tuṅgaṅan, wāhana, wāraṇa

• > Javanese: ꦭꦶꦩꦤ꧀ (liman) (inherited)
  • → Malay: liman
    • > Indonesian: liman (inherited)
• → Balinese: ᬮᬶᬫᬦ᭄ (liman)

• "liman" in P.J. Zoetmulder with the collaboration of S.O. Robson, Old Javanese-English Dictionary. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1982.

From Old Javanese liman. Probably lima + -an.

liman

1. elephant

   liman putih

   white elephant

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish لیمان (liman), from Byzantine Greek λιμένιον (liménion), from Ancient Greek λιμήν (limḗn).

liman n (plural limanuri)

1. haven
2. port, harbor

   Synonym: port

3. bank

   Synonym: țărm

4. lagoon

   Synonym: lagună

5. estuary

   Synonym: estuar

6. coast

   Synonym: coastă

liman

1. third-person plural present indicative of limar

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *lima, from Proto-Austronesian *lima.

liman

1. (anatomy) hand, arm

From Ottoman Turkish لیمان (liman), from Byzantine Greek λιμένιον (liménion), from Ancient Greek λιμήν (limḗn).

• IPA^(key): /liˈmɑn/

• (file)

• Rhymes: -mɑn

liman (definite accusative limanı, plural limanlar)

1. port, haven, harbor

• “liman”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu