hemicrania

English

Alternative forms

• hemicrany (dated)

Etymology

From Late Latin hemicrania (“pain in one half of the head”), from Ancient Greek ἡμικρᾱνίᾰ (hēmikrāníă), 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
• Spanish: hemicránea (es) f

See also

• amphicrania

Latin

Alternative forms

• hēmicrānium

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἡμικρᾱνίᾰ (hēmikrāníă).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [heː.mɪˈkraː.ni.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [e.miˈkraː.ni.a]

Noun

hēmicrānia f (genitive hēmicrāniae); first declension

1. (Late Latin) migraine, headache

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	hēmicrānia	hēmicrāniae
genitive	hēmicrāniae	hēmicrāniārum
dative	hēmicrāniae	hēmicrāniīs
accusative	hēmicrāniam	hēmicrāniās
ablative	hēmicrāniā	hēmicrāniīs
vocative	hēmicrānia	hēmicrāniae

Descendants

All inherited descendants reflect a shortened */meˈkraɲa/ ~ */miˈkraɲa/:

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: micragna, migragna
  • Neapolitan: mengrània
  • Sicilian: micragna
• Gallo-Italic:
  • 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.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /e.mi.kɾaˈni.ɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /e.mi.kɾaˈni.ɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /e.mi.kɾaˈni.a/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /i.mi.kɾɐˈni.ɐ/

• Hyphenation: he‧mi‧cra‧ni‧a

Noun

hemicrania f (plural hemicranias)

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

   Synonym: enxaqueca

Further reading

• “hemicrania”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “hemicrania”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026