aselli

Latin noun

Last edited: 2025-12-04
Primary meaning the Little Donkeys
Literal translation little donkeys
Variants
aselli
Edited by
the Little Donkeys part of constellation

stars in the Crab

sunt in signo cancri duae stellae parvae aselli appellatae, exiguum inter illas spatium obtinente nubecula quam praesepia appellant;

‘In the constellation of the Crab there are two small stars called the Little Asses, with a small gap between them containing a little nebula called the Manger;’

— Pliny, Natural History 18.353

Genre: encyclopedia
Provenance: Rome
Date: 77-79 CE

Pliny. Natural History, Volume I: Books 1-2. Translated by H. Rackham. Loeb Classical Library 330. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938.

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). aselli (Lemma #6127). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6127/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). aselli (Lemma #6127). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6127/
MLA (9th)
Meinhardt, K. (2025). aselli (Lemma #6127). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6127/
Harvard
Meinhardt, K. (2025) aselli (Lemma #6127), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6127/ (Accessed: February 2, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac6127,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-02]},
	author = {Meinhardt, Kierán},
	year = {2025},
	title = {aselli ({Lemma} #6127)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6127/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/6127/},
}