glandula

Forms

glandula f (genitive glandulae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive from Latin glāns (“acorn”) + -ula.^[2][3][1] Ancient grammarians derived it from glandium (“a kernel in meat”).^[3] glāns goes back to Proto-Italic *gʷland(i)- and Proto-Indo-European *gʷlh₂-n-d(h)-(i)- (“acorn”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Celsus is the first to use it, of the glands or glandular swellings that appear in the neck when a child grows a little older.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it named a gland, especially a swollen one, and the tonsils;^[2][6] it is nearly always plural.^[3] Martial and Apicius use it for a glandular delicacy in meat, the same as glandium.^[2][6] The veterinary writers Palladius and Pelagonius have a dissimilated form grandula.^[3]

Medieval writers used it for glands in anatomy and for tumours and swellings; a life of Edward the Confessor says that swellings under the jaw are called glandulae from their likeness to acorns, and another text that scrofula is commonly called so.^[7] It survives in Romanian ghindură, Italian ghiandola and Spanish landre.^[3] Through Old French glandres it gave English glanders, a disease of horses, in the early 15th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of glands swelling in the neck.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for the tonsils.^[6][5]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it for a delicacy cut from a boar.^[2][5]
• 360 AD – Pelagonius has the form grandula.^[3][5]
• early 15th century – English glanders comes from it through Old French.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gland, especially a swollen one; the tonsils.^[2][6]
2. A glandular delicacy in meat, the same as glandium.^[2][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A tumour or swelling.^[7]

Word family

• glandulōsus

Related words

• English glanders

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 d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com