What is "cymatium"

Cymatium \Cy*ma"ti*um\ (s?-m?"sh?-?m), n. [L., fr. Gr. ?????, dim. of ???? a wave.] (Arch.) A capping or crowning molding in classic architecture.

n. 1 (context architecture English) A molding on the cornice. 2 (context architecture English) A type of molding that is wavelike in form.

1. n. (architecture) a molding for a cornice; in profile it is partly concave and partly convex [syn: cyma]

2. [also: cymatia (pl)]

Cymatium molding appears at the top of the cornice in the classical order, and made of the s-shaped cyma molding (either cyma recta or cyma reversa). It is characteristic of Ionic columns and can appear as part of the entablature, the epistylium, and the capital. Often decorated with a palmette or egg-and-dart ornament on the surface of the molding.

7. The heights of the parts of the capital are to be so regulated that three of the nine parts and a half, into which it was divided, lie below the level of the astragal on the top of the shaft. The remaining parts are for the cymatium, abacus, and channel. The projection of the cymatium beyond the abacus is not to be greater than the size of the diameter of the eye [of the volute].

Cymatium is a genus of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Ranellidae, the tritons.

This genus has numerous species, perhaps as many as 100, some of which have a worldwide distribution. The genus has been divided into at least 10 subgenera. Some authors have elevated those subgenera, giving them the full status of genera, but this is by no means universally accepted.