axilla

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [aːkˈsɪl.la]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [akˈsil.la]^[1]

Forms

āxilla f (genitive āxillae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive of āla “wing; armpit”, made from that word's earlier form ⟨*axla⟩, like māxilla beside māla.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD quotes Cicero, who notes that āla came from axilla by dropping a harsh letter.^[2][4] Köbler's first source is Varro, whom he dates 116–27 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant the armpit.^[6][3] The forms ascilla and ascella appear later, and Isidore uses it.^[3][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant the side, the armpit.^[7] British Medieval Latin glosses spell it ascella and use it also for the part under a wing.^[8] It survives in Italian ascella, French aisselle and Spanish axila, and was borrowed into English as axilla.^[1]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero says āla came from it.^[2][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore uses it of the armpit.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The armpit.^[6][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) The part under a wing.^[8]

Related words

• āla
• māxilla
• English axilla
• English axil

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
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