# circulus
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin circulus.

### Noun

circulus (plural circuli)
* (zoology)
** (herpetology) A social group of reptiles where there is interaction and personal exchange between individuals.
** (ichthyology) A concentric growth ring found on the scales of fish. This ring develops around the focus of the fish's scale.
    Coordinate terms: focus, annulus

### References

* (herpetology):
** circulus (zoology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* (ichthyology):
** https://dnr.maryland.gov/ccs/Documents/education/The-Tale-of-a-Scale.pdf

## Latin
### Alternative forms

* circlus (rare, poetic)

### Etymology

From circus +‎ -ulus.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkir.ku.lus/, [ˈkɪrkʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈt͡ʃir.ku.lus/, [ˈt͡ʃirkulus]

### Noun

circulus m (genitive circulī); second declension
* A circle (geometric figure)
* An orbit (circular path)
* A ring, hoop
* A necklace, chain
* A company, social gathering, group
* (Medieval Latin) A calendrical cycle
    Huius sexto anno primus Dionisi circulus inchoat
       In the sixth year of which [reign], the first cycle of Dionysius begins. — Bede, Chronica Minora

#### Declension

Second-declension noun.

#### Related terms

* circā
* circiter
* circulō
* circulor
* circum
* circus

#### Descendants

* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: cerchio
*** → Aromanian: tserclju, tserchiu, tserkiu
** Sicilian: circhiu, chirchiu
** Tuscan: chiercio (Lucca)
* Padanian:
** Friulian: cercli
** Ligurian: çèrcio
** Lombard: sercc
** Piedmontese: sercc
** Romansch: tschierchel
** Venetan: cercio, sercio, sércio
* Northern Gallo-Romance:
** Franco-Provençal: cercllo
** Old French: cercle
*** French: cercle
**** Haitian Creole: sèk
*** Norman: cèrcl'ye (Jersey)
*** Walloon: ceke
*** → Middle English: cercle, circle (Latin-influenced)
**** English: circle
**** Scots: circle
* Southern Gallo-Romance:
** Aragonese: cerclo
** Catalan: cercle, cèrcol
** Old Occitan: cercle, sercle, selcle
*** Occitan: cercle, ceucle
* Insular Romance:
** Sardinian: chìlciu
* Ancient borrowings:
** → Albanian: qarkull
** → Basque: curcuru
** → Proto-Brythonic:
*** Breton: kelc'h
*** Cornish: kelgh
*** Old Welsh: circhl
**** Welsh: cylch
Learned borrowings:
* → British isles:
** Old English: ċircul
** Old Irish: circul
*** Middle Irish: circul
**** Irish: ciorcal
**** Manx: kiarkyl
**** Scottish Gaelic: cearcall
* → Germany and environs:
** Afrikaans: sirkel
** Danish: cirkel
** Dutch: cirkel
** German: Zirkel
*** → Old Slovak: cirkeľ
**** Pannonian Rusyn: циркель (cirkelʹ)
*** → Polish: cyrkiel
*** → Russian: циркуль (cirkulʹ)
** Limburgish: cirkel
** Norwegian: sirkel
** Swedish: cirkel
* → Iberia:
** Asturian: círculu
** Basque: zirkulu
** Galician: círculo
** Portuguese: círculo
** Spanish: círculo
*** → Catalan: círcol
* → Italy and environs:
** Dalmatian: circol
** Friulian: circul
** Italian: circolo
** Romansch: circul
** Sardinian: círculu, tzírculu
* → Translingual: Circulus

### References

* Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cĭrcŭlus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 703

### Further reading

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