masculus

Latin

Alternative forms

• masclus, mascel (Late Latin, proscribed)

Etymology

From mās ("male") +‎ -culus (diminutive ending).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmas.kʊ.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmas.ku.lus]
• Note: the /a/ of this word is presumed to be short as in the oblique stem of the base word, and not long as in the nominative, since word-formation operates on the former.

Adjective

masculus (feminine mascula, neuter masculum); first/second-declension adjective

1. male, masculine
2. manly, virile
3. Used of the larger and coarser varieties of plants or other natural products
4. (engineering) a male connector

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	masculus	mascula	masculum		masculī	masculae	mascula
genitive	masculī	masculae	masculī		masculōrum	masculārum	masculōrum
dative	masculō	masculae	masculō		masculīs
accusative	masculum	masculam	masculum		masculōs	masculās	mascula
ablative	masculō	masculā	masculō		masculīs
vocative	mascule	mascula	masculum		masculī	masculae	mascula

Noun

masculus m (genitive masculī); second declension

1. a male (of humans or other animals)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	masculus	masculī
genitive	masculī	masculōrum
dative	masculō	masculīs
accusative	masculum	masculōs
ablative	masculō	masculīs
vocative	mascule	masculī

Derived terms

• masculīnus

Descendants

(Most inherited Romance reflexes derive from a syncopated variant masclus, attested in the Appendix Probi.)

• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: mascru, mascu, mascuru, masculu, masciu
• Balkano-Romance:
  • Aromanian: mascur
  • Megleno-Romanian: mascur
  • Romanian: mascur, mascul
  • → Albanian: mashkull
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Corsican: maschiu
  • Dalmatian: muosclo
  • Istriot: mas'cio
  • Italian: maschio

    Tuscan: mastio

  • Neapolitan: mascolo
  • Sicilian: màsculu
  • Venetan: mas-cio, mascio
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: mascli, mascjo
  • Romansch: mastgel, mascal, mascel, mes-cel, mas-cel
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Emilian: masc', masti
  • Ligurian: màsccio, màscci
  • Lombard: mas'c, mah'c, mar'c
  • Piedmontese: mas-cc
  • Romagnol: masc', masc'e
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: mâcllo, mâtllo, mâhcllo
  • Old French: masle, malle
    • French: mâle
    • Picard: merle
    • Walloon: mâie, maul
    • → Middle English: male
      • English: male
      • Scots: male
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: mascle
  • Occitan: mascle
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: masclo, masto, mascllo (Ribagorçan)
  • Asturian: machu
  • Leonese: machu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: macho
    • Galician: macho
    • Portuguese: macho
  • Old Spanish: maslo, macho
    • Spanish: macho (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → Italian: mascolo, masculo
  • → Portuguese: másculo
  • → Spanish: másculo

References

• “masculus” on page 1190 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• “mâle” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 1078: “il maschio e la femmina” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it

Further reading

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