cochlea Latin · revision 35984

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc κόχλος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkɔ.kʰɫe.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔː.kle.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cochlea''' ''f'' (genitive cochleae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''coclea'', and ''coc(h)lia'' is found as well;^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Varro has the accusative ''coc(h)liam''.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|κοχλίας|tr=kokhlías|t=snail with a spiral shell]],^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) which is formed from [[m|grc|κόχλος|tr=kókhlos|t=shellfish with a spiral shell]].^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Etymonline notes that the Greek word is perhaps related to [[m|grc|κόγχος|tr=kónkhos|t=mussel]],^(Etymonline) and Köbler compares [[ine-pro|*ḱonkʰo-|t=mussel]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ According to Charisius, Varro gave it as an example of Greek masculine nouns that become feminine in Latin and end in ⟨-a⟩.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Plautus,^(Köbler 2010) meaning a [[m|en|snail]]: in the ''Poenulus'' a character tells others they have beaten a snail for slowness, ''vicistis cochleam tarditudine''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Snails appear among the ingredients of one of Cato's recipes, beside bees and dormice in Varro, and on a dinner menu in Pliny the Younger.^(OLD 2012) The word also named the snail's shell, and its shape gave the sense of a spiral: Celsus uses it of a bandage wound spirally, and Columella of hollows twisted into a spiral.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In engineering Vitruvius uses it for the screw that works a press and for the water screw that lifts water,^(OLD 2012) and Varro for a kind of entrance to an aviary, perhaps a winding or revolving door.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) In Ecclesiastical Latin it means a screw, a spiral or a snail,^(Stelten 1995) and in medieval Latin a winding staircase, a winding lane, or an apse.^(Niermeyer 1976) English took it over in the 1680s for the spiral cavity of the inner ear.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the snail as a byword for slowness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato lists snails in a recipe.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the press screw and the water screw.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of a spiral.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1680s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|cochlea]] for part of the inner ear.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|snail]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A snail [[m|en|shell]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # A [[m|en|spiral]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|screw]] for working a press.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A water screw, [[m|en|Archimedes' screw]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A kind of winding or revolving entrance.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|spiral staircase|alt=winding staircase]]; a winding lane; an [[m|en|apse]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cochleārium]]

+ * [[cochlear]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|cochlea]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}