areola

Forms

āreola f (genitive āreolae); first declension^[1] The spelling ariola is frequent in inscriptions.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ārea (“open space”) + -ola, a diminutive.^[2][3][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 1st century AD, in Columella's work on farming, for a small bed in a garden.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Pliny the Younger uses it of a small open space in a house: a little courtyard shaded by four plane trees (areolam, quae quattuor platanis inumbratur).^[2][3][5] The Vulgate has areolae aromatum, “beds of spices”, in the Song of Songs.^[7][5]

In Medieval Latin it kept the sense “garden bed”, also figuratively,^[8] and named small squares marked out on a surface: a pontifical describes squares of ash on the floor of a church being dedicated, with a letter of the alphabet written in each.^[9] The Swiss anatomist Caspar Bauhin applied it in 1605 to the coloured ring around the nipple, the sense in which English took it over.^[10] It survives in Italian aiuola, “flower bed”.^[11]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a garden bed.^[2][6]
• 61/62–before 117 AD – Pliny the Younger uses it of a small courtyard.^[2][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has it for beds of spices.^[7][6]
• 802 – Alcuin uses it figuratively of the flowering beds of good will.^[8]
• 1605 – Caspar Bauhin uses it for the ring around the nipple.^[10]
• 1706 – Recorded in English in this sense.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small open space, a little courtyard.^[2][5]
2. A garden bed, seedbed.^[2][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A small square marked out on a surface.^[9]
4. (New Latin, anatomy) The coloured ring around the nipple.^[10]

Related words

• ārea
• English areola

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier