ancilla

Etymology

From Latin ancilla (“maid, slave-girl”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ænˈsɪ.lə/

Noun

ancilla (plural ancillae)

1. A maid.
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 306:

     ‘And pass me that towel,’ added Ada, but the ancilla was picking up coins she had dropped in her haste […]

2. An auxiliary or accessory
   • 2009 January 23, Ryo Okamoto et al., “An Entanglement Filter”, in Science‎, volume 323, number 5913, DOI:10.1126/science.1167182:

     The filter achieves this two-qubit filtering effect by using two ancilla photons as probes that detect whether or not the two input photons are in the desired states.

Anagrams

• aclinal

Etymology

From ancula (“maid”) +‎ -lus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /anˈkil.la/, [aŋˈkɪl.la]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /anˈt͡ʃil.la/

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Noun

ancilla f (genitive ancillae); first declension

1. maid, slave-girl
   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Lucas.1.38

     dixit autem Maria ecce ancilla Domini fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum

     And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.

References

• ancilla in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ancilla in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ancilla in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• ancilla in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• ancilla in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ancilla in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin