animula

Italian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin animula, diminutive of anima (“soul”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈni.mu.la/
• Rhymes: -imula
• Hyphenation: a‧nì‧mu‧la

Noun

animula f (plural animule)

1. (literary) Diminutive of anima: a small or little soul
   • 1918, Ada Negri, “Alessandrina Ravizza (1846–1915)”, in Orazioni, Milan: Fratelli Treves editori, page 34:

     Penetrò, con il proprio istinto psicologico che non fallava mai, nell’intimo di quelle animule, pozzi profondi d’acqua avvelenata.

     With her infallible psychological instinct, she penetrated in the innermost part of those little souls, deep wells of poisoned water.

2. (literary, figurative) a sensitive person
3. (archaeology) a depiction of a deceased's soul

Related terms

• anima

Further reading

• animula in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• manuali

Latin

Etymology

anima (“soul”) +‎ -ula (diminutive suffix)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /aˈni.mu.la/, [äˈnɪmʊɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈni.mu.la/, [äˈniːmulä]

Noun

animula f (genitive animulae); first declension

1. a small soul, spirit, life
   • 76 CE – 108 CE, Hadrian, Carmina 3:

     Animula vagula blandula,
     hospes comesque corporis,
     quae nunc abībis in loca
     pallidula, rigida, nūdula,
     nec ut solēs dabis iocōs...

     • Translation by Wikisource

       Little soul, wandering, pleasing,
       guest and companion of the body,
       which now go away in places
       pale, stiff, bare,
       and will not jest as you do...

   • 1611, Johannes Kepler, Strena seu de nive sexangula 11:

     Has igitur rationes materialem necessitatem respicientes ita puto sufficere, ut hoc loco non existimem philosophandum de perfectione et pulrhritudine vel nobilitate figurae rhombicae: neque satagendum, ut essentia animulae quae est in ape, ex contemplatione figurae, quam fabricatur, eliciatur.

     These therefore are the reasons considering the material necessity, so I think it sufficient that at this point I do not consider philosophizing about the perfection, beauty, or nobility of the rhombic shape, nor fussing that the essence of the small soul which is in the bee is elicited from a meditation on the shape that is built.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	animula	animulae
Genitive	animulae	animulārum
Dative	animulae	animulīs
Accusative	animulam	animulās
Ablative	animulā	animulīs
Vocative	animula	animulae

Related terms

• anima

References

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