Gracility
Gracilityis slenderness, the condition of beinggracile,which means slender. It derives from the Latin adjectivegracilis(masculineorfeminine), orgracile(neuter),[1]which in either form means slender, and when transferred for example to discourse takes the sense of "without ornament", "simple" or various similarconnotations.[2]
InGlossary of Botanic Terms,B. D. Jackson speaks dismissively[3]of an entry in earlier dictionary of A. A. Crozier[4]as follows: "Gracilis (Lat.), slender. Crozier has the needless word 'gracile'". However, his objection would be hard to sustain in current usage; apart from the fact thatgracileis a natural and convenient term, it is hardly aneologism.TheShorter Oxford English Dictionary[5]gives the source date for that usage as 1623 and indicates the word is misused (through association withgrace) for "gracefully slender".[5]This misuse is unfortunate at least, because the termsgracileandgraceare unrelated: the etymological root ofgraceis the Latin wordgratiafromgratus,meaning 'pleasing',[5]and has nothing to do with slenderness or thinness.[citation needed]
In biology
[edit]In biology, the term is in common use, whether as English or Latin:
- The termgracile[6]—and its opposite,robust[7]—occur in discussion of themorphologyof varioushominidsfor example.
- Thegracile fasciculusis a particular bundle of axon fibres in the spinal cord
- Thegracile nucleusis a particular structure ofneuronsin themedulla oblongata
- "GRACILE syndrome",is associated with aBCS1Lmutation
Inbiological taxonomy,gracileis thespecific nameorspecific epithetfor various species. Where the gender is appropriate, the form isgracilis.Examples include:
- Campylobactergracilis, a species of bacterium implicated in foodborne disease
- Ctenochasmagracile,a lateJurassicpterosaur
- Eriophorum gracile,a species ofsedge,Cyperaceae
- Euglena gracilis,a unicellular flagellate protist
- Hydrophisgracilis,a species of sea snakes
- Melampodiumgracile,a flowering plant species
- Moeritheriumgracile,anEocenemammalspecies
The same root appears in the names of some genera and highertaxa:
- Gracilariais a genus of red algae in the orderGracilariales
- Gracillariais a genus ofleaf minermoths in thesuperfamilyGracillarioidea
See also
[edit]- Buckling,for the slenderness ratio in engineering
- Grace (disambiguation)
- Gracilis (disambiguation),a Latin adjective in several species names – as remarked above, the meanings are the same as for gracile, except for their grammatical gender
References
[edit]- ^Gray, Mason D.; Jenkins, Thornton, eds. (1934). "gracile".Latin for Today, Book 2.Ginn and Co., Ltd.
- ^Simpson, D. P., ed. (1977)."gracile".Cassell's Latin Dictionary: Latin-English, English-Latin.London: Cassell.ISBN0-02-522580-4.
- ^Jackson, Benjamin Daydon (1928). "gracile".A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent(4th ed.). London: Gerald Duckworth & Co.W.C.2
- ^Crozier, Arthur Alger (1893). "gracile".A Dictionary of Botanical Terms.Henry Holt & Co.
- ^abcLittle, William; Fowler, H.W.; Coulson, J.; Onions, C.T., eds. (1968). "gracile".Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principals.Oxford at the Clarendon Press.
- ^"Glossary of Physical Anthropology Terms".
- ^"Glossary of Physical Anthropology Terms".