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homuncular (adj.)
1822, from homunculus + -ar.
Entries linking to homuncular
homunculus (n.)"tiny human being produced artificially," 1650s, from Latin homunculus (plural homunculi), literally "little person," with -culus, diminutive suffix, + homo (genitive hominis), which technically meant "male human," but it also was used with a sense "the human race, mankind;" while in Vulgar Latin it could be used as "one, anyone, they, people" and in logical and scholastic writing as "a human being, person."
This is conjectured to be from PIE *(dh)ghomon- (source also of Old Irish duine, Welsh dyn, Breton den "man;" Old Prussian smunents, smunets "man;" Old Lithuanian žmuo "person," Lithuanian žmogus "man," žmones "people," Gothic guma, Old High German gomo, Old Norse gume, Old English guma "man"). The literal sense is "earthling," from PIE root *dhghem- "earth" (compare human (adj.)). Other Latin diminutives from homo included homullus, homuncio.
This is conjectured to be from PIE *(dh)ghomon- (source also of Old Irish duine, Welsh dyn, Breton den "man;" Old Prussian smunents, smunets "man;" Old Lithuanian žmuo "person," Lithuanian žmogus "man," žmones "people," Gothic guma, Old High German gomo, Old Norse gume, Old English guma "man"). The literal sense is "earthling," from PIE root *dhghem- "earth" (compare human (adj.)). Other Latin diminutives from homo included homullus, homuncio.
-ar
word-formation element meaning "pertaining to, of the nature of," from Latin -arem, -aris "of the kind of, belonging to," a secondary form (by dissimilation) of -alis, used after syllables with an -l- (such as insularis for *insulalis, stellaris for *stellalis).
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<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/homuncular">Etymology of homuncular by etymonline</a>
APA style:
Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of homuncular. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/homuncular
Chicago style:
Harper Douglas, “Etymology of homuncular,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/homuncular.
MLA style:
Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of homuncular.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/homuncular. Accessed $(datetimeMla).
IEEE style:
D. Harper. “Etymology of homuncular.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/homuncular (accessed $(datetime)).
updated on October 22, 2012
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Dictionary entries near homuncular
homophone
homophony
homosexual
homosexuality
homozygous
homuncular
homunculus
homy
hon
honcho
Honduras
