auricula

auricula

See also: Auricula and aurícula

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin auricula (“the external ear; the ear”). Doublet of auricle.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪkjʊlə

Noun

auricula (plural auriculae or auriculas)

1. (anatomy) The external part of the ear.

   Synonyms: pinna, auricle

2. (anatomy) A small conical pouch projecting from either atrium of the heart.

   Synonyms: atrial appendage, auricular appendix, auricle

3. (palynology) A pronounced thickening at the corner of a trilete spore, beyond the end of the laesura.

   Synonym: valva

4. (horticulture, plural: auriculas) The ornamental primrose Primula auricula
   • 1919, Michael Wood, The White Island‎, page 122:

     Réné came on quietly, his trowel in one hand, some auricula roots in the other.

   Synonym: bear's ear

Related terms

• auricle
• auricular
• auricularis
• auriculate
• auriculo-

 

References

• “auricula”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “auricula”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

---

Latin

Alternative forms

• ōricula
• ōricla (proscribed)

Etymology

From auris (“the ear”) +‎ -cula (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /au̯ˈri.ku.la/, [äu̯ˈrɪkʊɫ̪ä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /au̯ˈri.ku.la/, [äu̯ˈriːkulä]

Noun

auricula f (genitive auriculae); first declension

1. Diminutive of auris:
   1. (anatomy) external ear, earlap
      • 54 B.C.E., Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem‎:

        Tu, quemadmodum me censes oportere esse et in re publica et in nostris inimicitiis, ita et esse et fore auricula infima scito molliorem.

        Whatever line you think I ought to take in politics and in treating my opponents, be sure I shall take, and shall be "gentler than any ear-lap.

   2. (in general) ear

      Synonym: auris

Inflection

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	auricula	auriculae
Genitive	auriculae	auriculārum
Dative	auriculae	auriculīs
Accusative	auriculam	auriculās
Ablative	auriculā	auriculīs
Vocative	auricula	auriculae

Derived terms

• auriculāris (adjective)
• auriculārius

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Neapolitan: aurecchia
  • Old Italian: urecchio[1] (possibly)
  • Sicilian: auricchia, aricchia, aricchiu
• Padanian:
  • Lombard: auregia
  • Piedmontese: aurija, auria
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Occitan: aurelha (all dialects)

    Gascon: aulhera, alhera

    Vivaro-Alpine: aurilha

• Ibero-Romance:
  • Galician: ourella
  • Leonese: oureya
  • Mirandese: oureilha
  • Portuguese: ourelha (regional)
• Vulgar Latin: ōricla (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → Catalan: aurícula
  • → English: auricle, auricula
  • → French: auricule
  • → Galician: aurícula
  • → Italian: auricola
  • → Portuguese: aurícula
  • → Spanish: aurícula
• Orthographic influence:
  • ⇒ Middle French: aureille (from Vulgar Latin ōricla)

References

• “auricula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “auricula”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• auricula in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• auricula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911), “auricula”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 52
• D'Ambra, Raffaele. 1873. Vocabolario napolitano-toscano domestico di arti e mestieri. Naples: publ. by author. Page 75.

1. Grandgent, Charles H. 1927. From Latin to Italian: An historical outline of the phonology and morphology of the Italian language. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Page 45