maxilla

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(declension-1) diminutive of māla:
(declension-1) diminutive of māla:

Pronounced as (IPA)

[maːkˈsɪl.la]

Diminutive of māla (“the cheekbone, jaw”), from its reconstructed Proto-Italic form *smakslā and the diminutive suffix *-elos via the following sequence of regular sound changes: *-kslelā > *-ksl̥lā > *-ksillā. Compare the formation of the following diminutives: āla–āxilla, ōlla–auxilla, paulus–pauxillus, pālus–pāxillus, vēlum–vēxillum. An alternative etymology of māla, supported by Thurneysen and Leumann, reconstructs its original form as *mandslā, from the root of mandō (“to chew”); if this is correct, the -x- in the diminutive must have instead been introduced by analogy to āxilla. Synchronically, māxilla can be viewed as ending in the Latin diminutive suffix -illus.