amygdala

See also: Amygdala

English

WOTD – 16 July 2010

Location of the amygdala in the human brain (region of the brain).

Etymology

Because of its shape, from Latin amygdala (“almond”), from Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē, “almond”). Doublet of almond and mandorla.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /əˈmɪɡ.də.lə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

amygdala (plural amygdalas or amygdalae)

1. (neuroanatomy) Each one of the two regions of the brain, located as a pair in the medial temporal lobe, believed to play a key role in processing emotions, such as fear and pleasure, in both animals and humans.
   • 2009 February 12, David Brooks, “The Worst-Case Scenario”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Cognitive scientists distinguish between normal risk-assessment decisions, which activate the reward-prediction regions of the brain, and decisions made amid extreme uncertainty, which generate activity in the amygdala.

Holonyms

• (region of the brain): brain, limbic system

Derived terms

• amygdalar
• amygdalase
• amygdalic
• amygdalocortical
• extended amygdala
• intraamygdala

 

Related terms

• amygdalian
• amygdalin
• amygdaloid
• mesoamygdala

Translations

region of the brain

• Catalan: amígdala (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 杏仁體／杏仁体 (xìngréntǐ)

• Czech: amygdala (cs) f
• Danish: amygdala c, mandelkerne c
• Esperanto: amigdalo
• Finnish: mantelitumake (fi)
• French: amygdale cérébrale (fr) f
• Galician: amígdala (gl) f
• German: Amygdala (de) f
• Hungarian: amigdala (hu)
• Icelandic: möndlungur m
• Japanese: 扁桃体 (へんとうたい, hentōtai), 扁桃核 (へんとうかく, hentōkaku)
• Polish: ciało migdałowate n
• Portuguese: amígdala (pt) f
• Romanian: amigdală (ro) f
• Russian: мозжечко́вая минда́лина f (mozžečkóvaja mindálina), миндалеви́дное те́ло n (mindalevídnoje télo)
• Spanish: amígdala (es) f
• Swedish: mandelkärna c, amygdala (sv) c
• Turkish: amigdala (tr)

Czech

Noun

amygdala f

1. amygdala

Declension

Declension of amygdala (hard feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	amygdala	amygdaly
genitive	amygdaly	amygdal
dative	amygdale	amygdalám
accusative	amygdalu	amygdaly
vocative	amygdalo	amygdaly
locative	amygdale	amygdalách
instrumental	amygdalou	amygdalami

Latin

Alternative forms

• amigdala (Medieval Latin)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /aˈmyɡ.da.la/, [äˈmʏɡd̪äɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈmiɡ.da.la/, [äˈmiɡd̪älä]

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē, “almond”). The sense "tonsil" is likely a calque of Arabic لَوْز (lawz).

Noun

amygdala f (genitive amygdalae); first declension

1. almond tree
2. almond

   Synonym: amygdalum

3. (Medieval Latin) tonsil

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	amygdala	amygdalae
Genitive	amygdalae	amygdalārum
Dative	amygdalae	amygdalīs
Accusative	amygdalam	amygdalās
Ablative	amygdalā	amygdalīs
Vocative	amygdala	amygdalae

Descendants

• Sicilian: mènnula
• → Proto-West Germanic: *mandalā (see there for further descendants)

Etymology 2

Noun

amygdala

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of amygdalum

References

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

Portuguese

Noun

amygdala f (plural amygdalas)

1. Obsolete spelling of amígdala