cirrhose

Forms

cirrhose f (plural cirrhoses)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned formation from Ancient Greek κιρρός (kirrhós, “tawny, yellowish”) with the suffix -ose, named for the reddish-yellow granules of the diseased liver.^[2][3][1][4] Rey calls the Greek adjective of obscure origin.^[3] The word is credited to the French physician Laennec (1781–1826), who studied the disease; the Larousse de la langue française dates it to 1805, the Garnier–Delamare medical dictionary to 1819.^[3][2][5] Littré traces it to a Greek κίρρωσις (kírrhōsis), from the same adjective.^[6] Etymonline notes that the spelling with ⟨rrh⟩ presumes a Greek spelling other than the usual one.^[7]

The English word cirrhosis (1827) is a Modern Latin form of Laennec's coinage.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nysten's medical dictionary (1820 supplement) explains it as Laennec's name for a granular, reddish-yellow growth found mainly in the liver.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word came to name the liver disease itself, which impairs the organ's functions and is often due to chronic alcoholism, hence its connotations in everyday speech.^[3] By extension it is used, with a qualifier, of diffuse sclerosis of other organs.^[3][8] The adjective and noun cirrhotique (1892), used instead of an expected cirrhosique, describes a person with cirrhosis.^[3]

Timeline

• 1805 – First record, according to the Larousse de la langue française.^[2][3]
• 1819 – Laennec's use, as dated by Garnier–Delamare.^[2][3]
• 1820 – Nysten's dictionary defines it as Laennec's term.^[2]
• 1827 – The English cirrhosis is recorded.^[7]
• 1892 – The derivative cirrhotique appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) cirrhosis, a chronic disease of the liver in which fibrosis and nodules replace normal tissue: cirrhose alcoolique, cirrhose du foie.^[8][9][2]
2. (medicine) By extension, a degenerative sclerosis of another organ.^[8][3]

Word family

• cirrhotique

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)