noctiluca

From Middle English noctilūca.

• enPR: näkˌtĭ.lo͞oˈkə, IPA^(key): /ˌnɑk.tɪˈlu.kə/
• Hyphenation: noc‧ti‧lu‧ca

noctiluca (countable and uncountable, plural noctilucae or noctilucas)

1. (obsolete) A firefly, glowworm.
   • 1917, Papers from the Department of Marine Biology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.:

     If a number of noctilucas are punctured with a needle, causing the cells to collapse, and are then subjected to an interrupted current, they respond just as uninjured cells do.

1. (obsolete) The moon
2. (obsolete) A phosphorescent substance
3. Alternative letter-case form of Noctiluca

• noctilucal
• noctilucan

• noctiluca in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• noctiluca in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “noctiluca, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2003.

• ciclatoun

From nox (“night”) +‎ luceō (“to shine”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /nok.tiˈluː.ka/, [nɔk.tɪˈɫuː.ka]
• Hyphenation: noc‧ti‧lu‧ca

noctilūca f (genitive noctilūcae); first declension

1. (literally) Something which shines by night.
2. The Moon.
   • 1st c. BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina Liber VX.11, (http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0231/_P5.HTM):

     Luna, vel quod sola lucet noctu. Itaque ea dicta Noctiluca in Palatio: nam ibi noctu lucet templum.

   • 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes 4.6.37–40:

     rite Latonae puerum canentes,
     rite crescentem face Noctilucam,
     prosperam frugum celeremque pronos
     volvere mensis.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:noctiluca.
3. (countable) A candle, a lamp, a lantern

First declension.

• noctiluca in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• noctiluca in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• noctiluca in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• noctiluca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• noctiluca in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "Noctĭlūca", in Charles Anthon, A Latin-English and English-Latin dictionary, for the use of schools, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1852 (1853 printing), p. 586. OCLC 463933035.
• "noctĭlūca" in James Robert Vernam Marchant, Joseph F. Charles, eds., Cassell's Latin dictionary (in English and Latin), New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1953 printing, p. 366. OCLC 569568855.
• "Noctilūca", in George R. Crooks, Alexander J. Schem, eds., A new Latin-English school lexicon : on the basis of the Latin-German lexicon of Dr. C. F. Ingerslev, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1867, p. 610. OCLC 680803499.
• "nōctĭlūcă", in Frederick Percival Leverett, ed., A new and copious lexicon of the Latin language, new ed., Boston: Bazin & Ellsworth, 1850, v. 1, p. 570. OCLC 870807716.

From Medieval Latin noctilūca (“something which shines by night”).

noctilūca (plural noctilucae)

1. A firefly, glowworm.
2. Misspelling of noctilupa (nyctalopia).

• “noctiluca, n.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2015-04-10.
• “noctilupa, n.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2015-04-10.