# gubernaculum
## English
### Alternative forms

* gubernaculum testis
* gubernaculum dentis

### Etymology

From Latin gubernāculum (“a helm, rudder”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˌɡjuː.bəˈnak.jʊl.əm/
* (General American) IPA: /ˌɡu.bɚˈnæk.jəl.əm/

### Noun

gubernaculum (plural gubernacula)
* A part or structure that serves as a guide:
** (embryology) Either of a pair of folds of peritoneum which connects the caudal end of the fetal testis with the bottom of the scrotum in a male fetus, and by failing to elongate in proportion to the rest of the fetus causes the descent of the testis into the scrotum; or an analogous cord of connective tissue attached to the ovary in a female fetus, which is the precursor of the round and ovarian ligaments.
** (dentistry) (more fully gubernaculum dentis) A cord or sheath of connective tissue that connects the sac of an unerupted permanent tooth with the surface of the gum.
** (zoology) The reproductive tract of an invertebrate, or part of it; especially the section containing the gonophores (in a hydrozoan); a sclerotized structure in the cloaca (in a nematode).
** (biology) (rare) A trailing flagellum in certain protists used for steering.

### References

* “gubernaculum”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* “gubernaculum testis”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* “gubernaculum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

## Latin
### Etymology

From gubernō (“to steer”) +‎ -culum (suffix forming instrument nouns).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ɡu.berˈnaː.ku.lum/, [ɡʊbɛrˈnäːkʊɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ɡu.berˈna.ku.lum/, [ɡuberˈnäːkulum]

### Noun

gubernāculum n (genitive gubernāculī); second declension
* the steering-oar, helm, rudder
    nāvis cum mālō, vēlīs et gubernāculō ― boat with a mast, sails and a rudder
* management

#### Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

#### Descendants

* → English: gubernaculum
* Catalan: governall
* Old French: governail
** French: gouvernail
** → Middle English: governail, governail, governaill, governaille, governayle, governaylle, governele, governeylle
*** English: governail (archaic)
*** Middle Scots: governall
* Old Occitan: governal
** → Italian: governale
** → Italian: governalle
** → Portuguese: governalhe
* → Old Galician-Portuguese: governallo (semi-learned)
** Galician: gobernallo
** Portuguese: governalho
* → Old Spanish: governallo (semi-learned)
** Spanish: governallo

### References

* “gubernaculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “gubernaculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "gubernaculum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* gubernaculum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. to hold the reins of government: ad gubernacula (metaph. only in plur.) rei publicae sedere to hold the reins of government: gubernacula rei publicae tractare to steer: gubernaculum tractare
* “gubernaculum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “gubernaculum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
* Morwood, James. A Latin Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.