auricule

Forms

auricule f (plural auricules)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin auricula (“little ear, ear”).^[2][3][4] Littré and Larousse explain the Latin word as “little ear”.^[5][6] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert refer it to oreille.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1377, in Lanfranc, where the Grand Larousse gives it the sense of the appendage of the heart's atrium; the Grand Robert glosses it “auricle” and the Petit Robert “little ear”.^[3][2][4] The DMF quotes it in 1501 from La Vigne for the lobe of the ear, or the ear itself.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Rabelais used it in 1538 for the outer ear, the sense of the pinna.^[3] Anatomists later applied it to the small ear-shaped appendages of the heart's atria; the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date the current sense to 1838.^[2][4][3] By the same likeness of shape, botanists used it for small rounded appendages at the base of leaves, petals and stamens, and for a primrose also called oreille d'ours, and zoologists for tufts of feathers near the eyes of some birds.^[5][8]

Timeline

• 1377 – First recorded, in Lanfranc.^[3]
• 1501 – La Vigne uses it for the lobe of the ear.^[7]
• 1538 – Rabelais uses it for the outer ear.^[3]
• 1838 – The anatomical sense of the appendage of the heart's atrium is recorded.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The lobe of the outer ear.^[8][6]
2. (anatomy) By extension, the whole outer ear, the pinna.^[8][3]
3. (anatomy) Each of the hollow appendages that extend the oreillettes (atria) of the heart: l'auricule gauche.^[4][3][6]
4. (anatomy) An ear-shaped part of a bone, such as the joint surface of the ilium.^[8]
5. (botany) A small ear-shaped appendage at the base of a leaf, petal or stamen.^[8][5]
6. (botany) The bear's-ear primrose, also called oreille d'ours.^[8][5]
7. (zoology) A tuft of feathers above the eyes of some birds, such as owls.^[8][5]

Related words

• oreille
• oreillette
• auriculaire
• Latin auricula

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
7. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
8. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard