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Glite Dictionary
medulla spinalis

medulla spinalis

8.2
The part of the nervous system inside the spine that carries messages between the brain and the body
  • noun
  • /məˈdʌlə spaɪˈnælɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : médula espinal
  • Damage to the medulla spinalis can lead to loss of motor function and sensation.

Examples

  • During the surgery, the doctor carefully navigated around the medulla spinalis to avoid causing injury.

  • In Latin, the spinal cord is the medulla spinalis, the spinal marrow, the marrow of the spine, OK.

  • The medulla spinalis is essential for transmitting signals between the brain and the rest of the body.

Synonyms

spinal cord
vsmedulla spinalis
  • Specialized
59 3.4

A bundle of nerves inside the spine that sends messages between the brain and the body

is the Latin technical name used in scientific contexts for that same structure

Surface Forms

medulla spinalis singular
medulla spinales plural

Morphology

medulla + spinalis

The term combines 'medulla' (medulla/marrow, here the neural tissue continuous with the spinal cord) and 'spinalis' (pertaining to the spine), so its meaning 'spinal cord' is directly derivable from the constituents. This Latin-based anatomical pattern is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'médula espinal'), making the composition predictable for learners who know both words.

Etymology

The term medulla spinalis comes from Latin and literally means the 'marrow' of the 'spine', since medulla means 'marrow' and spinalis means 'spine'. Imagine a soft cord of marrow running inside the backbone that carries messages to and from the brain, so the phrase came to mean the 'spinal cord'.