noctula

Latin

Etymology

From noctua (“night-owl”) +‎ -ula (diminutive suffix).

Sense 2 borrowed from Italian nottola and sense 3 from French noctule, both ultimately from sense 1 of the Latin word. Among the earliest examples of its scientific usage is the species name Nyctalus noctula, coined in 1774 by Schreber.

Pronunciation

• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈnok.tu.la/, [ˈnɔkt̪ulä]

Noun

noctula f (genitive noctulae); first declension

2. (Late Latin, hapax) presumably same sense as noctua
   • ca. 5th–6th c. CE, Mustio, Gynaecia, section LXXXIII:

     iubebant nutrientibus ut ubera omnium animalium manducarent vespertilionum etiam conbustorum vel noctule cineres cum vino bibere dabant vel cum aqua solutum

     They would tell nursing women to eat various animals' udders or even have them drink water or wine with the ashes of burnt bats, or of a night-owl, stirred into it...

4. (Medieval Latin) latinisation of the Italian nottola (“name for various bats and birds”)
   • Ca. 1220's, Sermon by Saint Anthony of Padua :

     Ululae sunt aves nocturnales, dictae ab ululatione vocis quam efferunt, quas vulgo cavones vel noctulas dicunt.

     Screech-owls are nocturnal birds named after the screeching they emit; in the vernacular they are called cavones or noctulas.

   • 1338, Deed of sale in Vicovaro, Italy :

     et medietatem castellarii seu casalis quod dicitur Gripta de Noctulis

     ...and half of the estate known as Gripta de Noctulis [Grotta di Nottole]...

6. (New Latin, biology) a noctule
   • 1804, Johannes Hermann, Observationes zoologicae quibus novae complures aliaeque animalium species describuntur et illustrantur, page 172:

     Vespertilionem noctulam vivam clamosamque, etiam praetereuntium calceis navali pice forte imbutam, tamen avide petiit, diverberatamque diu rostro tandem deglutiit.

     It eagerly chased down a vespertilio noctula, even though the latter was quite stained with pitch from the boots of passers-by, and after battering it about for a considerable time with its beak, swallowed it alive and screaming.

   • 1830, Johannes Müller, De glandularum secernentium structura penitiori earumque prima formatione in homine atque animalibus, page 40:

     Secretum in Vespertilione murino et V. noctula foetidum atque adiposum auctore Ill. Tiedemann alis lubricandis inservit.

     Per Tiedemann, in the species Vespertilio murinus and Vespertilio noctula, a foul greasy secretion is used to lubricate the wings.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	noctula	noctulae
Genitive	noctulae	noctulārum
Dative	noctulae	noctulīs
Accusative	noctulam	noctulās
Ablative	noctulā	noctulīs
Vocative	noctula	noctulae

Descendants

• Italian: nottola (see there for further descendants)
• Old French: nuitre
• Venetian: nòtoła

Forms showing a forward shift in stress, as if *noctulla:

• Franco-Provençal: itoulă, niétôla
• Old Occitan: nuchola
  • Occitan: nichola, nechola, nuechora

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “nŏctua”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 7: N–Pas, page 163