Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cymatium

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CYMAT'IUM (κυμάτιον). An architectural moulding, employed in cornices, friezes, and architraves (Vitruv. iii. 5. 10 — 12.), having at the top a full and swelling outline, which sinks into a hollow below, without making any angle, like the undulation of a wave (κῦμα, cyma), from which resemblance the name arose. It is called an "ogee" by our workmen, and "cyma reversa" by modern architects, to distinguish it from the "cyma recta," the contour of which is hollow above and full below. See SIMA.