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papilla

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word papilla

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin papula

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [paˈpɪl.la][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [paˈpil.la][1]

Forms

papilla f (genitive papillae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive, from Latin papula (“pimple, pustule”) + -illa.[2][1][3] Köbler compares Pokorny's root Proto-Indo-European *pap- (“to swell”).[4] Festus explained the name by the likeness of nipples to pimples, and Isidore by the way infants suck at them.[5][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus, who has a character admire a pretty little nipple.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It is the nipple or teat of an animal or person: Varro wants bitches with even teats, Columella writes of an udder, and Pliny the Elder of the teats of dolphins.[2][3] Festus uses it of a protuberance like a nipple, the wattles that hang from goats' throats.[2] Wiktionary adds the poetic sense breast, the medical sense pustule, and a rosebud.[1] English took it as papilla in the 1690s, for a nipple and later for any small nipple-like bump.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a nipple.[2][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of the teats of dogs.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the teats of dolphins.[3][4]
  • 1690s – English borrows it.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A nipple, teat, of animals or people; poetically, the breast.[2][3][8][1]
  2. A nipple-like protuberance; a pustule; a rosebud.[2][1]

Word family

  • papillātus
  • papillāris
  • papula
  • English papilla

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Papilla.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/papilla. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·