glande

Forms

glande f (plural glandes)^[1] Old French glandre (late 12th century), still Norman;^[2][3][4] glande is found from 1314.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French glandre, inherited from Latin glandula (“glands of the neck”), the medical diminutive of glāns (“acorn”), with dissimilation of the second ⟨l⟩.^[2][3][5][1] Because Old French gland and glande are each found in both senses, “acorn” and “gland”, the TLFi thinks the form with ⟨d⟩ probably comes from the Latin word for acorn moved in Vulgar Latin to the first declension as *glanda, which was easy since the noun was feminine; the form with ⟨r⟩, from the diminutive, then merged with it.^[2][6][7]

Cognate with Italian ghiandola and Spanish landre.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as glandre in the Vie d'Édouard le Confesseur (late 12th century), meaning a tumour on a gland, of the swellings in the neck known as scrofula.^[2][8][4]

Semantic evolution

The anatomical sense, an organ made of small sacs, is found in Henri de Mondeville's surgery in 1314.^[2][7] About 1560, in Ambroise Paré, it took the special sense of a lymph node, and by extension of an inflamed or swollen lymph node.^[7][8][4] The classification of glands by their secretion, external or internal, belongs to the 20th century.^[8]

In familiar speech of the 1970s, avoir les glandes came to mean to be annoyed or fed up.^[7][9]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Glandre “tumour on a gland” appears in the Vie d'Édouard le Confesseur.^[2]
• 1314 – Glande names the organ in Henri de Mondeville's surgery.^[2][7]
• c. 1560 – Paré uses it of a lymph node.^[7][8]
• 1690 – The derivative glandé, of a horse with swollen glands, is recorded by Furetière.^[2]
• 1970s – Avoir les glandes “to be annoyed” appears in familiar speech.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) A gland, an organ that produces a secretion: glandes salivaires, glande thyroïde, glandes endocrines.^[2][9][4]
2. (botany) A secreting structure of a plant.^[2][4]
3. (dated, familiar) A lymph node, and by extension a swollen or inflamed lymph node.^[9][1][4]
4. Avoir les glandes (familiar): to be annoyed, ill at ease or afraid.^[9][7]

Word family

• glandé

Related words

• gland
• glandule
• glandulaire
• Latin glandula

Usage notes

A separate slang noun glande “idling, lazing about” is a back-formation from the verb glander.^[1]

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 j k 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 149a
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert