# homunculus
## English
### Alternative forms

* homonculus

### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin homunculus, diminutive of homō (“man”).

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /hɒˈmʌŋk.jʊ.ləs/
* (US) IPA: /həˈmʌŋk.jə.ləs/, /hoʊˈmʌŋk.jə.ləs/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

homunculus (plural homunculi)
* A miniature man, once imagined by spermists to be present in human sperm.
* The nerve map of the human body that exists on the parietal lobe of the human brain.

#### Quotations

* For quotations using this term, see Citations:homunculus.

#### Derived terms

* cortical homunculus
* homunculus argument

#### Related terms

* homo
* homunculine

#### Translations
### See also

* manikin

### References

* “homunculus”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* “homunculus”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
* “homunculus”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

## Italian
### Alternative forms

* omuncolo

### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin homunculus (“little man”). Compare the adapted borrowing omuncolo.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /oˈmun.ku.lus/
* Rhymes: -unkulus
* Hyphenation: ho‧mùn‧cu‧lus

### Noun

homunculus m (invariable)
* (alchemy, folklore) homunculus (a legendary figure resembling a little man, who was said to be created through alchemy)
* (historical, biology) homunculus (the little man believed by preformationists to be inside human sperm)
* (physiology, neuroscience) homunculus (nerve map realized as a distorted representation of the human body)
    homunculus corticale ― cortical homunculus
    homunculus motorio ― motor homunculus

### Further reading

* (sense 1 and 2): homunculus (alchimia) on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia $^{it}$
* (sense 3): homunculus corticale on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia $^{it}$
* omuncolo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
* homunculus in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

## Latin
### Etymology

From homō, hominis +‎ -culus.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /hoˈmun.ku.lus/, [hɔˈmʊŋkʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /oˈmun.ku.lus/, [oˈmuŋkulus]

### Noun

homunculus m (genitive homunculī); second declension
* diminutive of homō (“man”).
* a little or weak man, homunculus
* (rare) a dwarf
    Synonyms: nānus, pūmiliō

#### Declension

Second-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | homunculus | homunculī |
| Genitive | homunculī | homunculōrum |
| Dative | homunculō | homunculīs |
| Accusative | homunculum | homunculōs |
| Ablative | homunculō | homunculīs |
| Vocative | homuncule | homunculī |

#### Descendants

* → Catalan: homuncle
* → English: homunculus
* → Spanish: homúnculo
* → French: homuncule
* → German: Homunkulus
* → Italian: homunculus
* → Japanese: ホムンクルス
* → Portuguese: homúnculo
* → Romanian: homunculus
* → Russian: гому́нкул (gomúnkul)

### References

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

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin homunculus.

### Noun

homunculus m (plural homunculuși)
* homunculus