malleus

See also malléus

English

Wikipedia

Section of an ear showing location of the malleus

The malleus of a rotifer of the species Brachionus urceolaris (fig. c-d).

Etymology

From Latin malleus (“hammer, mallet”)

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /ˈmæl.i.əs/
• Rhymes: -æliəs

Noun

malleus (plural mallei)

1. (anatomy) The small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear.

   A fracture of the malleus handle is a rare traumatic middle ear lesion.

   • 2010, Elaine N. Marieb & Katja Hoehn, Human Anatomy & Physiology, 8th edition, page 576

     The tympanic cavity is spanned by the three smallest bones in the body: the auditory ossicles […] These bones, named for their shape, are the malleus (malʹe-us; "hammer"); the incus (ingʹkus; "anvil"); and the stapes (staʹpēz; "stirrup"). The "handle" of the malleus is secured to the eardrum, and the base of the stapes fits into the oval window.

2. (ichthyology) The tripus (ossicle in cypriniform fishes).
3. (zoology) One of the paired calcareous structures within the mastax of rotifers.
   • 1884, Hudson, C.T., Memoirs: An Attempt to re-classify the Rotifers in Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science 1884 s2-24, pages 335-356:

     [...] in the typical mastax of a Brachionus there are two hammer-like bodies (mallei), which work on a kind of split anvil (incus); [...] each malleus consists of an upper part or head (uncus) and a lower or handle (manubrium);

Synonyms

• (bone of the middle ear): hammer
• (tripus): malleus Weberi, tripus

Hypernyms

• (bone of the middle ear): auditory ossicle, auditory bone, otic bone, ossicle

Derived terms

• malleal
• mallear

Translations

the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear

• Czech: kladívko (cs) n
• Estonian: vasar (et)
• Finnish: vasara (fi), vasaraluu (fi)
• French: malléus (fr), marteau (fr)
• German: Hammer (de) m, Malleus (de) m
• Greek: σφύρα (el) (sfýra) f 
• Irish: casúirín (ga) m, mailléas (ga) m

• Macedonian: чеканче (mk) (čékanče) n
• Polish: młoteczek m
• Portuguese: martelo (pt) m
• Romanian: ciocan (ro) n
• Russian: молоточек (ru) (molotóček) m 
• Slovene: kladivce (sl) n
• Spanish: malleus (es), martillo (es) m

tripus — see tripus

part of the mastax of rotifers

• Polish: ząb (pl) m, chitynowa płytka (pl) f, młoteczek (pl) m

References

• The Century Dictionary Online
• Dictionary of Ichthyology, Brian W. Coad and Don E. McAllister
• A Dictionary of Scientific Terms, Henderson I. F., Henderson W. D., BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009, ISBN: 1113194219, 9781113194213, p. 174

---

Latin

Wikipedia ^la

malleus (a mallet)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *melh₁- (“to grind, crush”), whence also molō (“I grind”). Compare similar semantic development from the same Proto-Indo-European root in Old Church Slavonic млатъ (mlatŭ, “hammer”), beside the usual reflex млѣти (mlěti).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /ˈmal.le.us/

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Noun

malleus (genitive malleī); m, second declension

1. hammer, mallet
   • ca. 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book II, lines 623-625

     […] haud aliter quam cum spectante iuvenca
     lactentis vituli dextra libratus ab aure
     tempora discussit claro cava malleus ictu.

     " […] just as when the young suckling calf spies by its right ear the danger poised to crash its resounding hammer blow."

   • 405, Jerome and others, Vulgate, Iudicum 5:26a

     sinistram manum misit ad clavum et dexteram ad fabrorum malleos […]

     "She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer […] "

2. a disease of animals
   • a. 260, Quintus Gargilius Martialis, P. Vegeti Renati Digestorum artis mulomedicinae, Book I, section xxxi

     Quod si febris interna fuerit, non facile animal dormiet, et cotidie deterior fiet, interdum furunculos in dorso vel in lateribus habebit: scias eum a morbo, de quo superius disputatum est, maleo teneri.

3. (New Latin) the malleus, a small bone in the middle ear
   • 1794, Gulielmo Rowley, Schola Medicinæ Universalis Nova, pars prior, page ix

     Chorda tympani—Oſſicula quatuor auditus, 267—Malleus—Incus—Oſſiculum ſubrotundum ovale—Stapes […]

     Chorda tympani—four auditory ossicles, 267—malleus—incus—subrotund oval ossicle—stapes […]

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	malleus	malleī
genitive	malleī	malleōrum
dative	malleō	malleīs
accusative	malleum	malleōs
ablative	malleō	malleīs
vocative	mallee	malleī

Synonyms

• martellus (Late Latin)

Related terms

• malleātor
• malleātus
• malleō

Derived terms

• malleolus

Descendants

Albanian: maj Aromanian: malju, maljiu Catalan: mall English: mallet, malleus French: mail Italian: maglio

Portuguese: malho Romanian: mai Romansch: magl Sardinian: magiu Sicilian: magghiu Spanish: mallo