medulla

See also: médulla

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin medulla (“pith, marrow”), perhaps from medius (“middle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈdʌlə/, /mɛdʌlə/, [məˈdɐlə], [mɛˈdɐlə]

• (US) IPA^(key): /məˈdulə/, [məˈdʉɫə]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

medulla (plural medullas or medullae or medullæ)

1. The soft inner part of something, especially the pith of a fruit.
2. (anatomy) The inner substance of various organs and structures, especially the marrow of bones.
3. (anatomy, neuroanatomy) The medulla oblongata.
4. (botany) The internal tissue of a plant.

Derived terms

• medulla oblongata
• medullar
• medullary
• medulloblastoma
• renal medulla

Translations

the inner substance of various organs and structures, especially the marrow of bones

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 髓质 (zh) (suǐzhì), 髓 (zh) (suǐ)

• Esperanto: medolo sg
• Japanese: 髄 (ja) (zui)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kirok (ku) f

• Old Polish: drzeń m
• Russian: медула (ru) (medula)
• Spanish: médula (es) f

the medulla oblongata

• Bulgarian: продълговат мозък m (prodǎlgovat mozǎk)
• French: moelle allongée (fr) f
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: lakêşemox m

• Polish: rdzeń przedłużony m
• Russian: продолговатый мозг (prodolgovatyj mozg)

The internal tissue of a plant

• Bulgarian: сърцевина (bg) f (sǎrcevina)

Interlingua

Noun

medulla (plural medullas)

1. medulla

Latin

Etymology

Uncertain. Traditionally compared to Latin medius (“middle”), or Proto-Indo-European *mosgʰos (“brain, marrow”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) De Vaan mentions neither of these theories, and instead prefers a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *smer-u-lo-, from *smérus (“grease, marrow”), with the irregular change from *-r- > -d- resulting from hypercorrection similar to that of *-d- > -r- in merīdiēs (“midday”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /meˈdul.la/, [mɛˈd̪ʊlːʲä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /meˈdul.la/, [meˈd̪ulːä]

Noun

medulla f (genitive medullae); first declension

1. (anatomy) bone marrow
2. (figuratively) as the subjective location of the intense inner physical sensation of a heightened emotion, such as erotic passion
   • c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, 45 15-16:

     “Ut multō mihi maior ācriorque
     ignis mollibus ārdet in medullīs.”

     “So that a fire far more blazing may burn in my soft marrow.”

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.66-67:

     [...] Ēst mollis flamma medullās
     intereā, et tacitum vīvit sub pectore volnus.

     The flames consume her tender marrow all the while, and the silent wound dwells within her heart.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	medulla	medullae
genitive	medullae	medullārum
dative	medullae	medullīs
accusative	medullam	medullās
ablative	medullā	medullīs
vocative	medulla	medullae

Derived terms

• medullitus
• medullula
• *medullum

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: mãduã
  • Romanian: măduvă
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: marodda, marolla
  • Italian: midolla, midollo
  • Sicilian: miduḍḍa, miruḍḍa
• North Italian:
  • >? Friulian: medole
  • Ligurian: moula, miola, meola
  • Lombard: miòla
  • Piedmontese: miola
  • Venetan: mioła, miola, meoła, meola

    Fiumano: medola

• Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: miola, muola
  • Old French: mëolle
    • French: moelle
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Old Catalan: meolla, molla, mola
    • Catalan: molla
  • Gascon: medora, meula, meura, mora, meusa
  • Occitan:

    Auvergnat: miola, mesola, mzola

    Languedocien: mesolha, mesola, meula, meulha, miola, miolha

    Limousin: meula, meulha

    Provençal: mesola, mevola, meula, meulha

    Vivaro-Alpine: mesolha, mesola, meulha, miola, meula

• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: miolla, medolla
  • Old Leonese:
    • Asturian: megolla, migolla, meolla, miolla
    • Leonese: megolla, migolla, miolla
    • Mirandese: miolha
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: *meola
    • Galician: miola, mola, meola
    • Portuguese: miola (Northern Portugal)
• Borrowings:
  • → Italian: medulla
  • → Catalan: medul·la
  • → English: medulla
  • → French: médulla
  • → Galician: medula
  • → Portuguese: medula
  • → Spanish: médula

Further reading

• “medulla”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “medulla”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• medulla in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• medulla in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Niedermann, Max (1950) “Der Suffixtypus -ullus, -a, -um lateinischer Appellativa”, in Museum Helveticum‎^[1], pages 156–157