appendice

Forms

appendice m (plural appendices)^[1] Old French apendiches (1233), a feminine plural.^[2][3][4] The word was feminine in Middle French and still for Ambroise Paré.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin appendix (“addition, supplement”), properly “that which hangs on”, from appendō (“to hang up, suspend”), from pendeō (“to hang”).^{[4][7][2][8][6][9]} Rey analyses the Latin noun as formed on pendix and the verb, and notes that it had lost the literal sense and was mostly abstract and learned.^[4]

The same Latin family gave French appendre, pendre and appentis.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in 1233 as the feminine plural apendiches, in the concrete sense of the appurtenances of an estate, the lands and buildings that belong to it.^[4][2][3] A will of 1337 by Jacques de Hemricourt leaves mon chasteal a tos ses appendiches “my castle with all its appurtenances”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word is recorded again in 1281, in a charter.^[4][7][8] An anatomical sense is found in 1541 (Jean Canappe), and Paré speaks of the small fibrous appendices that bind the womb.^[8][6] The Latin sense “supplement, addition to a text” appears in 1611 and has stayed learned.^[4]

From general uses for a prolongation (appendice caudal, nasal), Réaumur in 1757 gave the word its now dominant sense of a secondary extension of an organ, which led to the special sense “appendix of the caecum”, today the most common one.^[4] That sense produced appendicite (1898), from the modern Latin appendicitis coined by the American surgeon R. H. Fitz in 1886, and appendicectomie (1872), the removal of the appendix, often wrongly called appendicite.^[4][7]

Timeline

• 1233 – Apendiches “appurtenances of an estate”.^[4][2]
• 1281 – Recorded in a charter.^[4][8]
• 1541 – Anatomical sense in Jean Canappe.^[8]
• 1611 – Sense “supplement to a text”.^[4]
• 1757 – Réaumur uses it for a secondary extension of an organ.^[4]
• 1872 – Appendicectomie is recorded.^[4]
• 1898 – Appendicite enters French.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A part that extends a main part and seems added to it, a prolongation: un appendice en forme de crochet.^[3][10][8]
2. (anatomy) An accessory part or extension of an organ: appendice xiphoïde, the small cartilage at the lower end of the sternum.^[3][6]
3. (anatomy) The vermiform appendix of the caecum (appendice vermiforme, iléocæcal): on lui a retiré l'appendice hier.^[3][8][1]
4. (zoology) Appendice caudal: the end segment of some animals.^[3]
5. (botany) An outgrowth of a flower or leaf.^[6]
6. An appendix to a book: notes and documents placed at the end as a complement.^[8][6][1]

Word family

• appendicite
• appendicectomie

Related words

• appendre
• pendre
• appentis
• Latin appendix

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
6. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 34a
10. ^ Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard