côlon

Forms

côlon m (plural côlons)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin colon, a Hellenism of imperial Latin,^[2][3][4][5] which is from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon, “large intestine”).^[3][1][6] The Greek word is of unknown origin.^[3][6]

The sources differ on its relation to κῶλον (kôlon, “limb, member”): the TLFi takes the Latin word as meaning “member, part of something”, applied in medicine to this part of the intestine, after the Greek,^[2] and Littré explains it from the Greek word for a member of the body;^[7] Rey holds that the Greek word for the intestine, with a short vowel, had another origin and took the long vowel in late Greek under the influence of the word for a limb and of Latin cūlus.^[3] It is related to colique.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1314, in the French translation of Henri de Mondeville's Chirurgie, as the name of part of the large intestine.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its anatomical sense.^[3] The GLLF dates it from about 1398 (Somme Me Gautier),^[9] and in the 16th century Ambroise Paré writes of the boyau nommé colon where humours gather.^[7] Learned compounds were formed in French on the Greek word: colostomie (1892), and colorectal and coloscopie in the 1940s and 1950s.^[3] English took colon “large intestine” from Latin in the late 14th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 1314 – The translation of Mondeville's Chirurgie uses the word.^[2][4]
• c. 1398 – It appears in the Somme Me Gautier.^[9]
• 16th century – Paré writes of the boyau nommé colon.^[7]
• 1892 – The compound colostomie is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The colon, the middle part of the large intestine between the cæcum and the rectum, divided into ascending, transverse and descending parts.^[10][2][9]

Word family

• colorectal
• coloscopie
• colostomie

Related words

• colique
• colite
• Latin colon

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 920a
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert