mamilla

Forms

mamilla f (genitive mamillae); first declension^[1] It is also spelled ⟨mammilla⟩,^[2] a spelling Lewis and Short call incorrect.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin mamma (“breast”) + -illa, a diminutive.^[2][1][4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of mamma, a nursery word made by reduplicating a labial nasal plus ⟨a⟩, which goes back to Proto-Italic *mam(m)a and Proto-Indo-European *mama.^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek μάμμη (mámmē, “mother”) and Lithuanian mamà (“mother”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short and Georges cite it first as a term of endearment in Plautus' Pseudolus,^[3][4] while de Vaan and Köbler date it from Varro,^[5][6] who uses it of small spouts set on a pipe so that they spray water.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is a breast or nipple:^[2][3] Juvenal asks who is surprised at a breast in Meroe bigger than her fat baby, and uses it also of a sow with thirty teats.^[2][3] Varro's small nozzle or spout on a pipe corresponds to Ancient Greek μαστός (mastós).^[4][2]

The ancient commentators separated it from its neighbours: Servius calls mamilla the whole swelling of the breast and papilla the small part from which milk is drawn, and Isidore says that mamillae belong to men, mammae to women and ubera to animals.^[7] In the Vulgate it is the breast in Isaiah and the Apocalypse, and Augustine speaks of a cancer of the breast.^[4] It continues in Italian mammella and French mamelle.^[7][8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as a term of endearment.^[3][4][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of small spouts on a pipe.^[2][6]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of human and animal breasts.^[2][3][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Isaiah and the Apocalypse.^[4][6]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore distinguishes mamillae, mammae and ubera.^[7][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A breast, nipple, teat, of a human or an animal.^[2][3][4]
2. A term of endearment.^[3][4]
3. A small nozzle or spout set on a pipe.^[2][4]

Word family

• mamillānus
• mamillāre
• mamillātus

Related words

• mamma
• papilla

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes mamma and ūber, the female breast as part of the body and as filled with milk, from papilla and mamilla, the nipples, which both sexes have.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper