herbuscula

Latin

Etymology

From herba (“plant”) +‎ -uscula (diminutive suffix), possibly modeled after arbuscula from arbor, since the regularly formed diminutive of herba is herbula.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /herˈbus.ku.la/, [hɛrˈbʊs̠kʊɫ̪ä]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /erˈbus.ku.la/, [erˈbuskulä]

Noun

herbuscula f (genitive herbusculae); first declension

a little herb or plant
- c. 410 CE – 429 CE, Martianus Capella, De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii 2.100:
  Deinde ipsi sociandam esse Cyllenio, quem licet miro semper optarit ardore, tamen uix eum post unctionem palaestricam recurrentem, dum flores ipsa decerperet praelectis quibusdam herbusculis, conspicata.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	herbuscula	herbusculae
genitive	herbusculae	herbusculārum
dative	herbusculae	herbusculīs
accusative	herbusculam	herbusculās
ablative	herbusculā	herbusculīs
vocative	herbuscula	herbusculae

References

“herbuscula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
herbuscula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.