flagellum

English

Schematic drawing of a protozoan beating a single flagellum

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₂-?

Proto-Indo-European *-rós

Latin flagrum

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -lum

Latin flagellumbor.

English flagellum

From Latin flagellum (“whip”), diminutive of flagrum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fləˈd͡ʒɛləm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛləm

Noun

flagellum (plural flagella or flagellums or (proscribed) flagellae)

1. (biology) In protists, a long, whiplike membrane-enclosed organelle used for locomotion or feeding.
2. (biology) In bacteria, a long, whiplike proteinaceous appendage, used for locomotion.
3. (formal) A whip. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Synonyms

• (organelle of protists): cilium
• (whip): whip

Derived terms

• basiflagellum
• distiflagellum
• endoflagellum
• flagellar
• flagelliferous
• flagellin

Translations

long whiplike organelle

• Arabic: سَوْط m (sawṭ)
• Bulgarian: камшиче n (kamšiče)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 鞭毛 (bin¹ mou⁴)

  Mandarin: 鞭毛 (zh) (biānmáo)

• Czech: bičík (cs) m
• Finnish: siima (fi)
• French: flagelle (fr) m
• German: Geißel (de) f, Flagellum n
• Greek: μαστίγιο (el) n (mastígio)
• Hungarian: ostor (hu)
• Japanese: 鞭毛 (ja) (benmō)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: تاژانگ (ckb) (tajang)

• Māori: hurunuku
• Persian: تاژک (fa) (tāžak)
• Polish: biczyk m
• Russian: жгу́тик (ru) m (žgútik)
• Spanish: flagelo (es)
• Swedish: flagell (sv) c
• Turkish: kamçı (tr), flagellum
• Ukrainian: джгу́тик m (džhútyk)
• Welsh: fflagelwm m

long whiplike appendage

• Bulgarian: камшиче n (kamšiče)
• Finnish: siima (fi)
• French: flagelle (fr) m
• Greek: μαστίγιο (el) n (mastígio)
• Japanese: 鞭毛 (ja) (benmō)
• Māori: hurunuku
• Polish: wić (pl) f
• Russian: жгу́тик (ru) m (žgútik)
• Swedish: flagell (sv) c
• Ukrainian: джгу́тик m (džhútyk)
• Welsh: fflagelwm m

whip — see whip

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin flagellum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flaːˈɣɛ.lʏm/
• Hyphenation: fla‧gel‧lum

Noun

flagellum m (plural flagella, no diminutive)

1. flagellum

   Synonyms: flagel, zweepdraad, zweephaar, zweepstaart

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fla.ʒɛ.lɔm/ ~ /fla.ʒe.lɔm/

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

flagellum m (plural flagellums)

1. flagellum (whip)

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₂-?

Proto-Indo-European *-rós

Latin flagrum

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -lum

Latin flagellum

From flagrum (“scourge, whip”) + -lum.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [fɫaˈɡɛl.lũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [flaˈd͡ʒɛl.lum]

Noun

flagellum n (genitive flagellī); second declension

1. whip, lash, scourge

   Synonyms: verber, flagrum, corium, lōrum, habēna, scutica

   • c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Carmina 25.9–13:

     […] nē lāneum latusculum manūsque mollicellās
     inusta turpiter tibī flagella cōnscribillent […]

     […] so that your soft side and your tender hands
     burning lashes may not shamefully scribble on […]

2. whip for driving animals (riding horses, cattle etc.)
3. tentacle
   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Metamorphoses 4.361–372:

     […] utque sub aequoribus dēprēnsum pōlypus hostem
     continet ex omnī dīmissīs parte flagellīs.

     […] and how under the seas the polyp holds fast the captured enemy
     with tentacles dispatched from every side.

4. young branch, shoot
   • c. 4th century CE, Tiberianus, Pervigilium Veneris 5–6:

     Crās amōrum cōpulātrīx inter umbrās arborum
     implicat casās virentēs dē flagellō myrteō.

     Tomorrow the binder of loves amongst the shades of trees
     weaves green cottages from myrtle branches.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	flagellum	flagella
genitive	flagellī	flagellōrum
dative	flagellō	flagellīs
accusative	flagellum	flagella
ablative	flagellō	flagellīs
vocative	flagellum	flagella

Derived terms

• flagellō

Descendants

• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Dalmatian: frazial
  • Italian: fragello, flagello (latinized?)
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Lombard: fièl, fiaèl
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: flleyél, flél ⇒ eflleyél
  • Old French: flaiel, flael, flayau
    • French: fléau
    • Norman: fléel
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Occitan:

    Auvergnat: flagèl

    Gascon: hlagèth, lagèth ⇒ eslagèth, ehlagèth

    Languedocien: flagèl

    Limousin: flageu, flagèl, fleu

    Provençal: flagèu, flèu

    Vivaro-Alpine: fleu, flel, flageu

Borrowings:

• → Old Breton: flagell
• → Catalan: flagell, flagel
• → English: flagellum, flagellate
  • → Welsh: fflagelwm
• → French: flagelle
• → Galician: flaxelo
• →? Proto-West Germanic: *flagil (see there for further descendants)
• → Byzantine Greek: φραγέλλιον (phragéllion)
  • → Aramaic:
    • Jewish Literary Aramaic: פְּרַגְלָא (fragəlā)
    • Classical Syriac: ܦܪܳܓܶܠܳܐ (frāgĕlā)
    • → Arabic: فِرْجَوْن (firjawn), فِرْجَوْل (firjawl) — less often
      • → Classical Syriac: ܦܪܓܘܢܐ
      • → Ottoman Turkish: فرجول (fircevl)
  • → Coptic: ⲫⲣⲁⲅⲉⲗⲗⲓⲟⲛ (phragellion)
• → Old Irish: sroigell
  • Irish: sroigheall
• → Occitan: flagèl
• → Portuguese: flagelo
• → Romanian: flagel
• → Spanish: flagelo
• → Swedish: flagell
• → Welsh: fflangell, possibly ffrewyll

References

• “flagellum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “flagellum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "flagellum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “flagellum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.