avicella

Forms

avicella f (genitive avicellae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin avicula (“little bird”) + -la, a further diminutive of avis (“bird”).^[1][2] The contracted form is aucella.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Varro,^[3] but the TLL reads ⟨aucella⟩ in the passage of De lingua Latina on diminutives, and Georges takes Varro to say that the form was not in use.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The TLL's one instance is in a sermon of Martin of Braga, which reproaches Christians who have dropped the sign of the cross received at baptism and heed other signs of the devil in little birds and sneezes; manuscripts there also have the masculine and the word for bird.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A little bird, watched for omens.^[1][4][2]

Related words

• avicula
• aucella
• avis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn