LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininefirst declension

āla

āla f (genitive ālae)
Classical[ˈaː.ɫa]Ecclesiastical[ˈaː.la]
Mille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. a wing (appendage of an animal's body that enables it to fly)
  2. the armpit (the upper and under part of the arm, where it unites with the shoulder)
  3. shoulder blade, axilla (the hollow where the foreleg is joined to the shoulder)
  4. the hollow where a limb joins the trunk of a tree
  5. wings, side halls or porches, waiting areas, colonnades, side apartments (side rooms off the main room, the side apartments on the right and left of a court)
  6. a wing (portion of an army, cavalry force (usually) deployed on an army's flank)
  7. wings (the members of a group placed along the perimeter)
    [...] dum trepidant ālae, saltūsque indāgine cingunt, [...].“[At the hunting party of Dido and Aeneas], while the beaters rush about, and encircle forest glades with net[s], ….” (Understood here as the beaters, mounted or on foot, who flush the prey and drive it toward the hunters.)29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.121

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

quā avis volat; duās ālās habet.
āla -ae f — in Mille Verba, Animālia

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Ala · Penna · Pluma · Pinna

1. Ala (from ἔχω, vehere) denotes ‘the wing,’ as a joint, like πτέρυξ; penna (πέτεσθαι), with reference to its feathers, like πτερόν. Plaut. Pœn. iv. 2. 48. Meæ alæ pennas non habent. 2. Penna denotes the larger and harder feathers; pluma, the smaller and softer feathers, which serve as a clothing to the body of the bird, like πτίλον. Sen. Ep. 42. Meministi, cum quendam affirmares esse in tua potestate, dixisse me volaticum esse ac levem, et te non pedem ejus tenere, sed pennam. Mentitus sum; pluma tenebatur, quam remisit et fugit. Cic. N. D. ii. 47. 121. 3. Penna denotes the whole, consisting of quill and feathers; pinna, the feather only, in opposition to the quill. (v. 204.)

Armus · Humerus · Ala · Axilla

Armus (ramus?) is the highest part of the upper arm in men; the fore-leg in beasts; the shoulder-blade, as part of the whole body, distinguished from scapula, as part of the skeleton, like ὦμος; humerus, the flat surface, which in the human body is over the upper arm, the shoulder, like ἐπωμίς; ala and axilla, the cavity which is under the upper arm, the arm-pit, like μασχάλη. Ovid, Met. xii. 396. Ex humeris medios coma dependebat in armos. And x. 599. xiv. 304. Plin. H. N. xi. 43. (iv. 27.)

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativeālaālae
genitiveālaeālārum
dativeālaeālīs
accusativeālamālās
ablativeālāālīs
vocativeālaālae

āla, ae, f. for axla, contr. from axilla, Cic. Or. 45, 153; cf. ἄγχος = ὦμος (Hesych.) = shoulder = O. H. Germ. Ahsala; Germ. Achsel.
I. Lit., a wing, as of a bird: galli plausu premunt alas, Enn. ap. Cic. Div. 2, 26; Verg. A. 3, 226 al.: Me. Vox mihi ad aurīs advolavit. So. Ne ego homo infelix fui, qui non alas intervelli, that I did not pluck off its wings, Plaut. Am. 1, 1, 170.—Poet., of the gods: Mors atris circumvolat alis, Hor. S. 2, 1, 58: volucris Fati Tardavit alas, id. C. 2, 17, 25: bibulae Cupidinis alae, Ov. A. A. 1, 233: furvis circumdatus alis Somnus, Tib. 2, 1, 89: me jocundis Sopor impulit alis, Prop. 1, 3, 45: Madidis Notus evolat alis, Ov. M. 1, 264.—Of sails: velorum pandimus alas, Verg. A. 3, 520.—Of oars: classis centenis remiget alis, Prop. 4, 6, 47: remigium alarum, Verg. A. 1, 301 (cf. Hom. Od. 11, 125); so inversely remi is used of wings: super fluctus alarum insistere remis, Ov. M. 5, 558 (cf. πτεροῖς ἐρέσσει, Eur. Iphig. Taur. 289; Aeschyl. Agam. 52; and cf. Lucr. 6, 743). —Of wind and lightning: Nisus Emicat et ventis et fulminis ocior alis, Verg. A. 5, 319 al.—
II. Transf.
A. In man, the upper and under part of the arm, where it unites with the shoulder; the armpit, Liv. 9, 41; 30, 34: aliquid sub alā portare, Hor. Ep. 1, 13, 12: hirquinae, Plaut. Poen. 4, 2, 51: hirsutae, Hor. Epod. 12, 5: halitus oris et alarum vitia, Plin. 21, 20, 83, § 142: virus alarum et sudores, id. 35, 15, 52, § 185: sudor alarum, Petr. 128 (many Romans were accustomed to pluck out the hair from the armpits, Sen. Ep. 114; Juv. 11, 157; v. alipilus).—
B. In animals, the hollow where the foreleg is joined to the shoulder; the shoulder - blade.—Of elephants, Plin. 11, 40, 95, § 324.—Of frogs, Plin. 9, 51, 74, § 159.—
C. In trees and plants, the hollow where the branch unites with the stem, Plin. 16, 7, 10, § 29; so id. 22, 18, 21, § 45; 25, 5, 18, § 38 al.—
D. In buildings, the wings, the side apartments on the right and left of the court, the side halls or porches, the colonnades; called also in Gr. πτερά, Vitr. 6, 4, 137; 4, 7, 92.—
E. In milit. lang., the wing of an army (thus conceived of as a bird of prey), commonly composed of the Roman cavalry and the troops of the allies, esp. their horsemen; hence, alarii in contrast with legionarii, and separated from them in enumeration, also having a leader, called praefectus alae, Tac. H. 2, 59 al.; cf. Lips. de Milit. Rom. 1, 10 Manut.; Cic. Fam. 2, 17 fin.; Herz. ad Caes. B. G. 1, 51; Smith, Dict. Antiq.; Cincius ap. Gell. 16, 4, 6; cf. Gell. 10, 9, 1: Alae, equites: ob hoc alae dicti, quia pedites tegunt alarum vice, Serv. ad Verg. A. 4, 121: peditatu, equitibus atque alis cum hostium legionibus pugnavit, Cato ap. Gell. 15, 9, 5; Cic. Off. 2, 13, 45: dextera ala (in alas divisum socialem exercitum habebat) in primā acie locata est, Liv. 31, 21; Vell. 2, 117 al.—An ala, as a military division, usu. consisted of about 500 men, Liv. 10, 29.!*? Such alae gave names to several towns, since they were either levied from them, quartered in them, or, after the expiration of their time of service, received the lands of such towns.—So, Ala Flaviana, Ala Nova, et saep. (cf. castrum, II. 1. fin.).

Origins

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eǵ-?
  2. Latināla

Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs-der. Proto-Italic *aksis Latin axis Latin *axla Latin āla For earlier *axla, from axis, from Proto-Italic *aksis, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs- (“axis”).

Descendants
  • Catalanala
  • Italianala
  • Occitanala
  • Frenchailefrom Old French aile
  • Englishaislefrom Old French aile
  • Portugueseáfrom Old Galician-Portuguese aa
  • Sardinianaba
  • Sardinianala
  • Sardinianàua
  • Spanishala

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

AntiquitiesAlaAla, ALARES, ALARII. These military terms had different meanings at different periods. 1. In the original constitution of the Roman army, each legion …

Quick answers

What does āla mean in Latin?
āla, a noun, means “a wing (appendage of an animal's body that enables it to fly); the armpit (the upper and under part of the arm, where it unites with the shoulder); shoulder blade, axilla (the hollow where the foreleg is joined to the sh”.
What is the genitive of āla?
The genitive singular is ālae. āla is feminine, first declension.
How do you pronounce āla?
In classical Latin, [ˈaː.ɫa]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈaː.la].
Where does āla come from?
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-? → Latin āla.