ligula

English

Etymology

From Latin ligula (“strap, spoon”), a variant of lingula (“small tongue-shaped object”), itself partly derived from lingō (“lick”) and partly a diminutive of lingua (“tongue”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪɡ.jʊ.lə/

Noun

ligula (plural ligulas or ligulae)

1. A strap or strap-shaped object, especially such a development in plants or insects.
   • 1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!:

     He unhasped the ligulae of his haversack, taking out a pair of blue jeans which he tossed to Bruno.

Related terms

• ligulate
• ligule
• liguloid

Translations

strap or strap-shaped object, especially in plants or insects

• Russian: язычо́к (ru) m (jazyčók)

Latin

Noun

ligula

1. Alternative form of lingula (“tongue or tongue-shaped thing”)
   • 38 CE – 104 CE, Martial, Epigraph 120 :

     Quamvis me ligulam dicant equitesque patresque,
     dicor ab indoctis lingula grammaticis.

     Though knights (the equites, an equestrian aristocratic order) and senators call me ligula,
     I am called lingula by stolid and ignorant grammarians.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	ligula	ligulae
genitive	ligulae	ligulārum
dative	ligulae	ligulīs
accusative	ligulam	ligulās
ablative	ligulā	ligulīs
vocative	ligula	ligulae

Descendants

• → Catalan: lígula
• → English: ligula, ligule
• → French: ligule
• Spanish: legra

References

• “ligula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press