auricula

Forms

auricula f (genitive auriculae); first declension^[1] It is also spelled ōricula.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin auris (“ear”) + -cula, a diminutive.^[2][1][4] De Vaan traces auris to Proto-Italic *aus(i)- (“ear”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eu(-)s- (“ear”), comparing Old Irish áu (“ear”), Ancient Greek οὖς (oûs, “ear”) and Lithuanian ausìs (“ear”).^[5] The grammarian Velius Longus explains it as standing for ⟨audiculae⟩, from hearing.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[5][6] in whose Asinaria someone says “take me by the ears, put your lips to mine”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is the external ear, the earlobe, and in general the ear.^[2][3][1] Offering or touching the ear was a sign of agreeing to be a witness, as in Horace's oppōnō auriculam.^[2] It is also the ear as the organ of hearing: Horace says soft ears delight in hearing a man's first name.^[2] Auricula mūrīna, “mouse-ear”, is a plant in Scribonius Largus.^[2] Isidore says it is called ōta in Greek.^[4] Wiktionary lists among its descendants oreille, orecchia, ureche and orella.^[1] English auricle was borrowed from Latin in the early 15th century for a chamber of the heart and in the 1650s for the external ear.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of taking someone by the ears.^[2][5][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of offering the ear and of soft ears.^[2][6]
• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus of the plant mouse-ear.^[2][6]
• early 15th century – English auricle for a chamber of the heart.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The external ear, earlobe; the ear.^[2][3][1][8]
2. auriculam oppōnere, to offer the ear (in agreeing to be a witness).^[2]
3. The ear as the organ of hearing; attention.^[2]
4. auricula mūrīna, a plant, mouse-ear.^[2]

Word family

• auriculāris
• auricularius

Related words

• auris
• English auricle

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson