merula

Latin

Etymology

Perhaps from Proto-Italic *meselā, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ems- (“black, blackbird”), which is thought to be a northwestern European substrate borrowing. Cognate with Breton moualch (“ouzel”), Welsh mwyalch (“blackbird, thrush”), German Amsel, English ouzel.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈme.ru.la/, [ˈmɛrʊɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.ru.la/, [ˈmɛːrulä]

Noun

merula f (genitive merulae); first declension

1. blackbird
2. wrasse

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	merula	merulae
genitive	merulae	merulārum
dative	merulae	merulīs
accusative	merulam	merulās
ablative	merulā	merulīs
vocative	merula	merulae

Descendants

• Aromanian: njerlã, njirlã
• Asturian: mierbu, miruellu
• Bourguignon: miâle
• Catalan: merla
• Champenois: marle, mâle
• Dalmatian: miarla
• Dutch: merel
• French: merle
  • Bourguignon: marle
• Friulian: mierli
• Galician: melro, merlo, merla
• Italian: merlo, merla
• Ladin: merlo
• Occitan: mèrle, mèrla
• Portuguese: melro
• Romanian: mierlă
• Romansch: merl, merlotscha
• Sardinian: mérula, meurra
• Sicilian: mèrulu, merru
• Spanish: merla, mierla, mirla, merlo, mirlo
• Venetan: merlo
• Walloon: miele
• → English: merle
• → Proto-West Germanic: *merlā (see there for further descendants)

References

• “merula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “merula”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• merula 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)
• merula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “merula”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “merula”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “merula”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly