Borrowed from Latin medulla (“pith, marrow”), perhaps from medius (“middle”).

• IPA^(key): /məˈdʌlə/, /mɛˈdʌlə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /məˈdulə/, [məˈdʉɫə]
• Hyphenation: me‧dul‧la

medulla (plural medullas or medullae or medullæ)

1. The soft inner part of something, especially the pith of a fruit.
2. (anatomy) The inner substance of various organs and structures, especially the marrow of bones.
3. (anatomy, neuroanatomy) The medulla oblongata.
4. (botany) The internal tissue of a plant.

medulla (plural medullas)

1. medulla

Uncertain. Traditionally compared to Latin medius (“middle”), or Proto-Indo-European *mosgʰos (“brain, marrow”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) De Vaan mentions neither of these theories, and instead prefers a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *smer-u-lo-, from *smérus (“grease, marrow”), with the irregular change from *-r- > -d- resulting from hypercorrection similar to that of *-d- > -r- in merīdiēs (“midday”).^[1]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [mɛˈdʊl.la]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [meˈdul.la]

medulla f (genitive medullae); first declension

1. (anatomy) bone marrow
2. (figuratively) as the subjective location of the intense inner physical sensation of a heightened emotion, such as erotic passion
   • c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, 45 15-16:

     “Ut multō mihi maior ācriorque
     ignis mollibus ārdet in medullīs.”

     “So that a fire far more blazing may burn in my soft marrow.”

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.66-67:

     [...] Ēst mollis flamma medullās
     intereā, et tacitum vīvit sub pectore volnus.

     The flames consume her tender marrow all the while, and the silent wound dwells within her heart.

First-declension noun.

• medullitus
• medullula
• *medullum (see there for further descendants)

• “medulla”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “medulla”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "medulla", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “medulla”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Niedermann, Max (1950), “Der Suffixtypus -ullus, -a, -um lateinischer Appellativa”, in Museum Helveticum‎^[1], pages 156–157