vertebral

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin vertebrālis,^[2][3][4][5] which the OED gives as medieval or modern Latin, or formed from English vertebra + -al.^[5][6][7] That adjective is from vertebra (“joint, joint of the spine”),^[2][5] from vertō (“to turn”),^[5][4][8] with the suffix -bra of instruments,^[4][6] so that the word meant "something to turn on".^[4] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).^[6][8] The Latin adjective corresponds to French vertébral, Spanish vertebral and Italian vertebrale.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of, relating to or situated near the vertebrae: 1681, in the table of hard words in S. Pordage's translation of T. Willis.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to about 1681,^[2] Etymonline to the 1680s,^[6] and the Shorter Oxford to the late 17th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as "relating to the joints of the spine", quoting Ray on the vertebral arteries.^[9] The noun, a vertebral artery or vein, followed in 1718.^[5] In the 19th century the adjective was extended to things composed of vertebrae (1822), especially in vertebral column,^[5] to animals that have a backbone (1815), a sense later taken over by vertebrate,^[5][6] and to the nature of a vertebra (1849).^[5][6] From 1883 a vertebral was also one of the plates down the middle of a turtle's shell.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1681 – relating to or near the vertebrae; spinal.^[5][2]
• 1718 – noun, a vertebral artery or vein.^[5]
• 1815 – of animals, having a backbone.^[5]
• 1822 – composed of vertebrae, as in vertebral column.^[5]
• 1849 – of the nature of a vertebra.^[5][6]
• 1883 – noun, one of the middle plates of a turtle's shell.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or situated near the vertebrae or the spine; spinal: a vertebral fracture.^[2][5]
2. Made up of vertebrae, as in vertebral column, the backbone.^[2][5][3]

Noun

1. A vertebral part, such as a vertebral artery or vein.^[2][5]
2. One of the middle plates along the back of a turtle's carapace.^[2][5]

Word family

• vertebrally
• nonvertebral
• prevertebral
• postvertebral
• subvertebral
• intervertebral
• vertebral column
• vertebral canal

Related words

• vertebra
• vertebrate
• invertebrate
• version
• vertex
• vertigo

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.