herbuscula

Latin

Etymology

From herba (“plant”) +‎ -uscula (diminutive suffix), possibly modeled after arbuscula from arbor, since the regularly formed diminutive of herba is herbula.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /herˈbus.ku.la/, [hɛrˈbʊs̠kʊɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /erˈbus.ku.la/, [erˈbuskulä]

Noun

herbuscula f (genitive herbusculae); first declension

1. a little herb or plant
   • c. 410 CE – 429 CE, Martianus Capella, De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii 2.100:

     Deinde ipsi sociandam esse Cyllenio, quem licet miro semper optarit ardore, tamen uix eum post unctionem palaestricam recurrentem, dum flores ipsa decerperet praelectis quibusdam herbusculis, conspicata.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	herbuscula	herbusculae
Genitive	herbusculae	herbusculārum
Dative	herbusculae	herbusculīs
Accusative	herbusculam	herbusculās
Ablative	herbusculā	herbusculīs
Vocative	herbuscula	herbusculae

References

• “herbuscula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• herbuscula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.