gestation

Forms

gestation f (plural gestations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin gestātiō (“act of carrying, being carried in a litter or carriage”), a word frequent in Celsus.^[2][1][3] The Latin noun is formed on the supine of gestō (“to carry about”), which in imperial Latin also meant to carry in a litter and to carry a child, replacing ferō.^[3] The verb is the frequentative of gerō (“to carry”).^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1537, in J. Canappe's translation of Galen, with no clear sense.^[2][3] In 1550 H. Fierabras uses it in medicine for a healthy exercise of being carried about, one of several kinds devised by Asclepiades.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, the first medical sense was the old Roman exercise of having oneself carried, in a litter or a carriage, to restore one's strength;^[2][5] Littré still gives it, after Celsus.^[2][5] Cotgrave records the general sense “act of carrying” in 1611.^[6][4]

The biological sense, the state of a viviparous female carrying her young from conception to birth, is dated 1748 by Bloch and Wartburg and the dictionaries of Robert, while the TLFi finds it already in J. Liébault's book of remedies for women's diseases (1585).^[7][4][2][3] The figurative sense, the slow preparation of a work, an idea or a new situation, appears in the 1860s: Rey cites Hugo in 1862, the Petit Robert gives 1866 and Bloch and Wartburg 1872.^[3][8][7]

Timeline

• 1537 – First recorded, in Canappe's Galen.^[2][3]
• 1550 – Used for a medical exercise of being carried about.^[2]
• 1585 – Liébault uses it for pregnancy.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records “act of carrying”.^[6]
• 1748 – The modern biological sense becomes established.^[7][4]
• 1862 – Hugo uses it figuratively of the preparation of a work.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (physiology) The state of a viviparous female carrying her young from conception to birth, and the length of that state; in a woman, pregnancy.^[8][2][9]
2. (figurative) The slow work that prepares the birth of a creation of the mind or of a new situation: un roman en gestation.^[8][2]
3. (historical) Among the Romans, an exercise of being carried in a litter or carriage for one's health.^[5][2]

Related words

• geste¹
• gérer
• Latin gestātiō

References

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