vitellus

English

Etymology

From Latin vitellus (“the yolk of an egg”). Doublet of veal.

Noun

vitellus (countable and uncountable, plural vitelli or vitelluses)

1. (now rare, biology) The contents or substance of the ovum; egg yolk.
   • 1861, F. Rymer Jones, The General Structure of the Animal Kingdom, page 48:

     In the sarcodo there takes place a process which may be in some measure compared with what occurs in the vitellus after the fecundation of an ovum. The granules becoming united together form groups, which soon divide and subdivide […]

2. (botany) Perisperm in an early condition.
3. (botany) An oily substance adhering to the spores of Lycopodium.

Related terms

• vitellophage

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “vitellus”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Latin

Alternative forms

• vitellum (yolk of an egg)

Etymology

From vitulus (“a bull calf”) +‎ -lus (suffix forming diminutives). Compare porcellus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [wɪˈtɛl.lʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [viˈtɛl.lus]

Noun

vitellus m (genitive vitellī); second declension

1. a small calf
2. the yolk of an egg

   Coordinate terms: albūmen, albāmentum, albor, album

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	vitellus	vitellī
genitive	vitellī	vitellōrum
dative	vitellō	vitellīs
accusative	vitellum	vitellōs
ablative	vitellō	vitellīs
vocative	vitelle	vitellī

Descendants

• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: biteddu, bitedhu, bitellu, vitellu
• Balkano-Romance:
  • Aromanian: yitsãl
  • Istro-Romanian: viţe, viţelu
  • Megleno-Romanian: vițǫl, vițal
  • Romanian: vițel
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Corsican: vitellu
  • Italian: vitello
    • → Piedmontese: vitel
  • Neapolitan: vitiello, vetiello
  • Sicilian: viteddu, vitieddu, vuteddu, vutiddu
  • Venetan: vedeło, vedel
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: vidiel
  • Ladin: vedel
  • Romansch: vadè, vadel
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Emilian: vdèl, vedèl, vidèl
  • Lombard: vedèl

    Ossolano: vèl

    • → Piedmontese: vidèl
  • Piedmontese: vèil, vèl, ⇒ veilat
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: vél, viô, viau, veûzh

    Valdôtain: véil, vil

  • Old French: veel
    • French: veau
    • → English: veal
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: vedell, videll
  • Occitan:

    Auvergnat: vedèu

    Gascon: vedèth, vetèth

    Languedocien: vedèl, vodèl, vedèlh (meridional)

    Limousin: vdèl, vdèu, vedéil, vedèl

    Provençal: vedèu, vodèu

    Vivaro-Alpine: vèu, vèl, vedèu, vedèl, vió

• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: vetiello

    Belsetán: vetiecho

    Vió: vetiello

    Oriental: vediello

    Ribagorçan: vediell, vedell

• Borrowings:
  • → Portuguese: vitelo
  • → Spanish: vitelo

References

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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French vitellus or Latin vitellus.

Noun

vitellus n (uncountable)

1. perisperm

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	vitellus	vitellusul
genitive-dative	vitellus	vitellusului
vocative	vitellusule