English edit

Etymology edit

From Latin ancilla (maid, slave-girl).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

ancilla (plural ancillae)

  1. (rare) A maid.
    • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 306:
      ‘And pass me that towel,’ added Ada, but the ancilla was picking up coins she had dropped in her haste []
  2. An auxiliary or accessory
    • 2009 January 23, Ryo Okamoto et al., “An Entanglement Filter”, in Science[1], volume 323, number 5913, →DOI:
      The filter achieves this two-qubit filtering effect by using two ancilla photons as probes that detect whether or not the two input photons are in the desired states.

Related terms edit

Anagrams edit

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From ancula (maid) +‎ -lus (diminutive form).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

ancilla f (genitive ancillae); first declension

  1. maid, slave-girl
    • 43 BCEc. 17 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.551:
      cūr vetet ancillās accēdere, quaeritis?
      Why does she forbid slave-girls to approach, you ask?
    • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Lucas.1.38:
      Dīxit autem Maria : Ecce ancilla Dominī : fīat mihi secundum verbum tuum.
      And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.

Declension edit

First-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative ancilla ancillae
Genitive ancillae ancillārum
Dative ancillae ancillīs
Accusative ancillam ancillās
Ablative ancillā ancillīs
Vocative ancilla ancillae

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

References edit

  • ancilla”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • ancilla”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • ancilla 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)
  • ancilla in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  • ancilla”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • ancilla”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin