cervical

Forms

cervical (feminine cervicale, masculine plural cervicaux, feminine plural cervicales)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cervīx (“neck, nape”), a learned formation on its stem with the suffix -al.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary instead takes it from New Latin cervīcālis, itself formed from the stem of the classical word.^[1]

Rey notes that the Latin noun, often used in the plural, is one of the names of body parts in ⟨-ix⟩, and that it belongs with cerebrum, the source of cerveau.^[3] Because loads were carried on the nape, Church Latin used it to render Ancient Greek τράχηλος (trákhēlos, “neck”) in the sense “self-assurance, boldness”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1560 in Ambroise Paré's Anatomie, of the seventh branch of the vena cava, dite Ceruicale “called cervical”, in the sense “belonging to the back of the neck”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In anatomy the adjective first described the back of the neck and then the neck in general; it was used as a noun for the cervical muscle in 1805, by Cuvier.^[2][3] By another correspondence it was applied to the neck of the uterus, first recorded in Littré and Robin's medical dictionary in 1865, and to the neck of a tooth.^[2][3][7] The combining form cervico- has formed further anatomical adjectives.^[3]

English cervical was taken from the French word in the 1680s; its sense “of the neck of the womb” is recorded by 1832.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1560 – Ambroise Paré uses ceruicale of a branch of the vena cava in the neck.^[2][4]
• 1680s – English borrows the word as cervical.^[8]
• 1805 – Cuvier uses it as a noun for a neck muscle.^[2][3]
• 1865 – Littré and Robin record the sense “of the neck of the uterus”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (anatomy) Of the neck, especially the back of the neck or nape: les vertèbres cervicales, une douleur cervicale.^[7][2][9]
2. (anatomy) Of the neck of the uterus or of the bladder: un frottis cervical.^[7][9]
3. (anatomy) Of the neck of a tooth.^[7][3]

Related words

• cerveau
• Latin cervix
• English cervical

References

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