hemicrania

English

Alternative forms

• hemicrany (dated)

Etymology

Late Latin hemicrania (“pain in one half of the head”), from Ancient Greek ἡμικρᾱνίᾰ (hēmikrānía), from ἡμι- (hēmi-, “hemi-, half”) + κρανίον (kraníon, “skull”) (from whence also cranium).

Cognate to megrim and migraine, which also derive from the Latin.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪniə

Noun

hemicrania (countable and uncountable, plural hemicranias)

1. (pathology) A headache affecting one side of the head.
   • 1993, The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, translation Burgin and O’Connor, Chapter 2, p. 17:

     “Gods, gods, why do you punish me? Yes, no doubt it is upon me again, again this terrible, invincible affliction … this hemicrania which grips half the head with pain … without remedy, without escape … I must try not to move my head. …”

Usage notes

Medical term, used in some literary contexts; not used in everyday speech. Instead more general headache or more specific migraine used.

Synonyms

• megrim
• migraine

Derived terms

• hemicranial

Related terms

• megrim
• migraine

Translations

a headache affecting one side of the head

• Portuguese: hemicrania f, enxaqueca (pt) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

See also

• amphicrania

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Latin

Alternative forms

• hēmicrānium

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἡμικρᾱνίᾰ (hēmikrānía).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /heː.miˈkraː.ni.a/, [heːmɪˈkräːniä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /e.miˈkra.ni.a/, [emiˈkräːniä]

Noun

hēmicrānia f (genitive hēmicrāniae); first declension

1. (Late Latin) migraine, headache

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	hēmicrānia	hēmicrāniae
Genitive	hēmicrāniae	hēmicrāniārum
Dative	hēmicrāniae	hēmicrāniīs
Accusative	hēmicrāniam	hēmicrāniās
Ablative	hēmicrāniā	hēmicrāniīs
Vocative	hēmicrānia	hēmicrāniae

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: micragna
  • Neapolitan: mengrània
  • Sicilian: micragna
• Padanian:
  • Ligurian: mangrània
  • Piedmontese: milgran-a, mingran-a
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: migraigne
    • French: migraine (see there for further descendants)

• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: migranya
  • Occitan: migrana, milgrana, miugrana
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Spanish: migraña
• Borrowings:
  • → English: hemicrania
  • → Galician: hemicrania
  • → Italian: emicrania
  • → Portuguese: hemicrania

References

• hemicrania in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

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Portuguese

Noun

hemicrania f (plural hemicranias)

1. (pathology) hemicrania (a headache affecting one side of the head)

   Synonym: enxaqueca