capillaire

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ka.pi.lɛʁ/^[1]

Forms

capillaire (plural capillaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin capillāris (“of the hair”),^[2][3][4][5] an imperial Latin derivative of capillus (“hair”),^[2] the source of the inherited cheveu.^[1] In Late Latin it was used in botany (“capillaris herba”).^[3] The fern name (1579) is a second borrowing of the Latin word.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The surgeon Henri de Mondeville uses it in 1314 for veins “fine as a hair”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It was first a term of anatomy for what is as fine as a hair, vaisseaux capillaires “capillary vessels” is recorded in 1732, and the noun les capillaires for these vessels followed.^[3] The sense passed into physics and chemistry (tube capillaire).^[3][6] Ambroise Paré used capillaires for ferns with fine hair-like stalks in the 16th century.^[6][7]

The general Latin sense “of the hair” was taken up again in the 19th century (1838, Eugène Sue in 1842–1843),^[8][2] and is now common in the hairdressing trade (lotion capillaire, artiste capillaire “hairdresser”).^[3][9] The derivative capillarité dates from 1820.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1314 – Mondeville's “fine as a hair”.^[2]
• 1579 – Paré names ferns capillaires.^[3]
• 1732 – Vaisseaux capillaires.^[3]
• 1820 – Capillarité.^[4]
• 1838 – “Of the hair”: bulbes capillaires.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (anatomy) Of the finest blood vessels: vaisseaux capillaires.^[10][11]
2. Very fine, like a hair: tube capillaire, (physics) of capillarity.^[9][10]
3. Of the hair of the head: lotion capillaire.^[9][10]

Noun

1. A capillary vessel.^[9][1]
2. A fern with fine leaf stalks, such as maidenhair.^[10][7]

Word family

• capillarité

Related words

• cheveu
• Latin capillus
• English capillary

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 250a
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)