noctiluca

See also: Noctiluca

English

Etymology

From Latin noctilūca.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nŏkˌtĭ.lo͞oˈkə, IPA^(key): /ˌnɒk.tɪˈluː.kə/
• (General American) enPR: näkˌtĭ.lo͞oˈkə, IPA^(key): /ˌnɑk.tɪˈlu.kə/
• Hyphenation: noc‧ti‧lu‧ca

Noun

noctiluca (countable and uncountable, plural noctilucae or noctilucas)

1. (obsolete) A firefly, glowworm.
   • 1917, Papers from the Department of Marine Biology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington:

     If a number of noctilucas are punctured with a needle, causing the cells to collapse, and are then subjected to an interrupted current, they respond just as uninjured cells do.

2. (obsolete) The moon
3. (obsolete) A phosphorescent substance
4. Noctiluca scintillans (sea sparkle).

Derived terms

• icy noctiluca
• noctilucal
• noctilucan

References

• “noctiluca”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “noctiluca”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “noctiluca, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2003.

Anagrams

• ciclatoun

Latin

Etymology

From nox (“night”) +‎ luceō (“to shine”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /nok.tiˈluː.ka/, [nɔkt̪ɪˈɫ̪uːkä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /nok.tiˈlu.ka/, [nokt̪iˈluːkä]
• Hyphenation: noc‧ti‧lu‧ca

Noun

noctilūca f (genitive noctilūcae); first declension

1. (literally) Something which shines by night.
2. The Moon.
   • 1st c. BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina Liber VX.11, (http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0231/_P5.HTM):

     Luna, vel quod sola lucet noctu. Itaque ea dicta Noctiluca in Palatio: nam ibi noctu lucet templum.

   • 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes 4.6.37–40:

     rite Latonae puerum canentes,
     rite crescentem face Noctilucam,
     prosperam frugum celeremque pronos
     volvere mensis.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:noctiluca.
3. (countable) A candle, a lamp, a lantern

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	noctilūca	noctilūcae
genitive	noctilūcae	noctilūcārum
dative	noctilūcae	noctilūcīs
accusative	noctilūcam	noctilūcās
ablative	noctilūcā	noctilūcīs
vocative	noctilūca	noctilūcae

References

• “noctiluca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “noctiluca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• noctiluca 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)
• noctiluca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “noctiluca”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "Noctĭlūca", in Charles Anthon, A Latin-English and English-Latin dictionary, for the use of schools, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1852 (1853 printing), p. 586. →OCLC.
• "noctĭlūca" in James Robert Vernam Marchant, Joseph F. Charles, eds., Cassell's Latin dictionary (in English and Latin), New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1953 printing, p. 366. →OCLC.
• "Noctilūca", in George R. Crooks, Alexander J. Schem, eds., A new Latin-English school lexicon : on the basis of the Latin-German lexicon of Dr. C. F. Ingerslev, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1867, p. 610. →OCLC.
• "nōctĭlūcă", in Frederick Percival Leverett, ed., A new and copious lexicon of the Latin language, new ed., Boston: Bazin & Ellsworth, 1850, v. 1, p. 570. →OCLC.

Middle English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin noctilūca (“something which shines by night”).

Noun

noctilūca (plural noctilucae)

1. A firefly, glowworm.
2. Misspelling of noctilupa (nyctalopia).

References

• “noctiluca, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2015-04-10.
• “noctilupa, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2015-04-10.