cœliaque

Forms

cœliaque (plural cœliaques)^[1] First spelled celiaque (1545), then cœliaque in the second half of the 16th century.^[2][3] The spelling céliaque is a recognised variant.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin coeliacus (“of the bowels, of the viscera”),^[2][1][5] from Ancient Greek κοιλιακός (koiliakós),^[1][5] from κοιλία (koilía, “belly, bowels”),^[1][3] itself from κοῖλος (koîlos, “hollow”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as celiaque in 1545, in Guéroult's Histoire des plantes; in the second half of the century Ambroise Paré writes cœliaque, of a branch of a vessel going to the mesentery and the bowels, calling it “ventral”.^[2][6][5]

Semantic evolution

In older medicine flux cœliaque named a kind of diarrhoea, and the 17th-century dictionaries record céliaque as a noun for such a flux of the belly.^[2][4] In anatomy the adjective is used of the abdominal viscera, especially in tronc cœliaque (also artère cœliaque), the artery branching from the aorta to the stomach, liver and spleen.^[6][5][7] In modern medicine maladie cœliaque is the name of an intestinal disease of early childhood, due to an intolerance of gluten.^[2][7][8]

Timeline

• 1545 – Celiaque appears in Guéroult's Histoire des plantes.^[2][5]
• 2nd half of the 16th century – Paré uses the spelling cœliaque.^[2][6]
• 17th century – Céliaque is recorded as a noun for a flux of the belly.^[4]
• 1970 – The Larousse médical defines maladie cœliaque as a disease of the end of early childhood.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (anatomy) Relating to the abdominal cavity or the intestines.^[7][4][8]
2. Tronc cœliaque: the coeliac trunk, an artery branching from the abdominal aorta.^[7][5]
3. Maladie cœliaque: coeliac disease, an intolerance of gluten that damages the small intestine.^[7][8]

Related words

• Latin coeliacus
• English celiac

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
5. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)