ovella

Catalan

Alternative forms

• oveia, auvella, ouvella, auveia, auvea, aovella, uella, güella, auella
• avolla, avoia, voia (from Vulgar Latin *ovuc(u)la)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan oveylla, from Latin ovicula, diminutive of ovis, from Proto-Italic *owis, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ówis. Compare Occitan oelha. The initial diphthong in numerous regional variants reflects contamination from preceding determiners with final /-a/, as in una ovella > un' auvella.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [uˈβɛ.ʎə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [oˈvə.ʎə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [oˈve.ʎa]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

Noun

ovella f (plural ovelles)

1. sheep

   Synonym: be

2. ewe

Coordinate terms

• marrà
• moltó

Derived terms

• ovellenc
• oveller

Related terms

• oví

References

• “ovella” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• Petit Atles Lingüístic del Domini Català 6 'ovella'

Further reading

• “ovella”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “ovella”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “ovella” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

Fala

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese ovella, from Latin ovicula.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈbeʎa/
• Rhymes: -eʎa
• Syllabification: o‧ve‧lla

Noun

ovella f (plural ovellas)

1. ewe (female sheep)
2. sheep

References

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021), Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎^[1], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN, page 214

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈoʋelːɑ/, [ˈo̞ʋe̞lːɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -oʋelːɑ
• Syllabification^(key): o‧vel‧la
• Hyphenation^(key): ovel‧la

Adverb

ovella

1. (figuratively) (temporally) near, coming (soon)

   Joulu on jo ovella.

   Christmas is already soon.

   (literally, “Christmas is already at the door.”)

Noun

ovella

1. adessive singular of ovi

Anagrams

• velloa

Galician

Ovella

Alternative forms

• ovelha (reintegrationist)
• ouvella

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese ovella, from Latin ovicula, diminutive of ovis, from Proto-Italic *owis, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ówis. Compare Portuguese ovelha, Spanish oveja.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [oˈβeʎɐ]

Noun

ovella f (plural ovellas)

1. sheep

Derived terms

• ovellado
• Ovellariza
• ovelleiro

See also

• cordeiro

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “ovella”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “ovella”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “ovella”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “ovella”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “ovella”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN