furunculus

== Latin == === Etymology === From fūr (“a thief”) +‎ -unculus (diminutive nominal suffix). The use of the ending -unculus, which more often appeared in diminutives of n-stem nouns, may be influenced by analogy with the word latrunculus (“highwayman, robber”), a diminutive with a similar meaning. Alternatively (particularly in the sense "ferret"), could be from fūrō +‎ -culus, i.e. a diminutive formed on an n-stem base fūrō, an alternative form of fūr. === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [fuːˈrʊŋ.kʊ.ɫʊs] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [fuˈruŋ.ku.lus] === Noun === fūrunculus m (genitive fūrunculī); second declension (literally) pilferer (petty thief) (transferred sense) (pathology) pointed burning sore on the human body; boil, furuncle (botany) germ or knob on a vine, so called from its shape (zoology) refers to some mustelid animal (either a stoat or a ferret) Synonyms: fūrō, ictis, viverra, furectus, furettus ==== Inflection ==== Second-declension noun. ==== Descendants ==== All having the sense of 'sore, boil, abscess'. === References === AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 685: “il foruncolo” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it ALF: Atlas Linguistique de la France[1] – map 1574 – on lig-tdcge.imag.fr Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “fŭrŭnculus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 3: D–F, page 912 === Further reading === “furunculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “furunculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers “furunculus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.