nigellus

Latin

Etymology

From niger (“black”) +‎ -lus.

Adjective

nigellus (feminine nigella, neuter nigellum); first/second-declension adjective

1. diminutive of niger (“black”): somewhat black

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	nigellus	nigella	nigellum		nigellī	nigellae	nigella
genitive	nigellī	nigellae	nigellī		nigellōrum	nigellārum	nigellōrum
dative	nigellō	nigellae	nigellō		nigellīs
accusative	nigellum	nigellam	nigellum		nigellōs	nigellās	nigella
ablative	nigellō	nigellā	nigellō		nigellīs
vocative	nigelle	nigella	nigellum		nigellī	nigellae	nigella

Derived terms

• nigella

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: niello
    • → English: niello
    • → French: nielle (probably)
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: nieddu
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: neel, neiel, noel, noiel
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Catalan: niell
  • Old Occitan: niel
  • → Portuguese: nielo
  • → Spanish: niel
• Borrowings:
  • → English: Nigel
  • → Portuguese: nigelo

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “nĭgĕllus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 7: N–Pas, page 128

Further reading

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