vitellus

English

Etymology

From Latin vitellus (“the yolk of an egg”). Doublet of veal.

Noun

vitellus (countable and uncountable, plural vitelli or vitelluses)

1. (now rare, biology) The contents or substance of the ovum; egg yolk.
   • 1861, F. Rymer Jones, The General Structure of the Animal Kingdom, page 48:

     In the sarcodo there takes place a process which may be in some measure compared with what occurs in the vitellus after the fecundation of an ovum. The granules becoming united together form groups, which soon divide and subdivide […]

2. (botany) Perisperm in an early condition.
3. (botany) An oily substance adhering to the spores of Lycopodium.

Related terms

• vitellophage

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “vitellus”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Latin

Etymology

From vitulus (“a bull calf”) +‎ -ulus (“diminutive suffix”). Compare porcellus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /u̯iˈtel.lus/, [u̯ɪˈt̪ɛlːʲʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /viˈtel.lus/, [viˈt̪ɛlːus]

Noun

vitellus m (genitive vitellī); second declension

1. a small calf
2. the yolk of an egg

   Synonym: vitellum

   Coordinate terms: albūmen, albāmentum, albor, album

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	vitellus	vitellī
genitive	vitellī	vitellōrum
dative	vitellō	vitellīs
accusative	vitellum	vitellōs
ablative	vitellō	vitellīs
vocative	vitelle	vitellī

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: yitsãl
  • Istro-Romanian: viţe, viţelu
  • Megleno-Romanian: vițǫl, vițal
  • Romanian: vițel
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: vitellu
  • Italian: vitello
    • → Piedmontese: vitel
  • Neapolitan: vitiello, vetiello
  • Sicilian: viteddu, vitieddu, vuteddu, vutiddu
• Padanian:
  • Emilian: vdèl, vedèl, vidèl
  • Friulian: vidiel
  • Lombard: vedèl

    Ossolano: vèl

    • → Piedmontese: vidèl
  • Piedmontese: vèil, vèl ⇒ veilat
  • Romansch: vadè, vadel
  • Venetan: vedeło, vedel
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: vél, viô, viau, veûzh

    Valdôtain: véil, vil

  • Old French: veel
    • French: veau
    • → English: veal
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Aragonese: vetiello

    Belsetán: vetiecho

    Vió: vetiello

    Oriental: vediello

    Ribagorçan: vediell, vedell

  • Catalan: vedell, videll
  • Occitan:

    Auvergnat: vedèu

    Gascon: vedèth, vetèth

    Languedocien: vedèl, vodèl; vedèlh (meridional)

    Limousin: vdèl, vdèu, vedéil, vedèl

    Provençal: vedèu, vodèu

    Vivaro-Alpine: vèu, vèl, vedèu, vedèl, vió

• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: biteddu, bitedhu, bitellu, vitellu
• Borrowings:
  • → Portuguese: vitelo
  • → Spanish: vitelo

References

• “vitellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vitellus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• vitellus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French vitellus or Latin vitellus.

Noun

vitellus n (uncountable)

1. perisperm

Declension

Declension of vitellus

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	vitellus	vitellusul
genitive-dative	vitellus	vitellusului
vocative	vitellusule