hernie

Forms

hernie f (plural hernies)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin hernia (“hernia, rupture”), a learned borrowing of about 1370.^[2][3][1] Old French also had forms that had passed through the regular sound changes: herne (“hump, defect”) (late 12th century), then hergne (1538) and hargne (1564), and also herine (1380).^[2][3] The learned word replaced the last two, which were still used in the 17th century.^[4][5] The ⟨h⟩ comes from the Latin spelling, and it is aspirated, which Bloch and Wartburg explain by association with the family of hargneux.^[4] Littré notes that the popular form kept the stress of the Latin word, while the learned one merely copies it.^[6]

Cognate with Italian ernia and Spanish hernia.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1370 in the French translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, with the Latin sense: a swelling formed by an organ that has come out of its cavity.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its medical meaning.^[3] In the 20th century it was extended by analogy to the bulge of an inner tube through a tear in a tyre.^[3][7][8] Its derivatives are medical terms too: hernieux “suffering from a hernia” (1545), herniaire “relating to a hernia” (1704, chirurgien herniaire) and hernié “protruding through a hernia” (1836).^[3] The plant herniaire (1611), also called herniole (about 1600), owes its name to the poultices once made from it against hernias.^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1370 – First recorded, in the translation of Guy de Chauliac.^[2][3]
• 1490 – The date that Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert give for the word.^[4][5]
• 1538 – The popular form hergne.^[2][3]
• 1545 – Hernieux appears.^[3]
• 1564 – The popular form hargne.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Herniaire names a plant.^[3][4]
• 20th century – Used of a bulging inner tube.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) A hernia: a swelling formed by an organ or part of one that has come out of its normal cavity: hernie inguinale, hernie discale, hernie étranglée.^[8][2][7]
2. A bulge of an inner tube through a tear in the casing of a tyre.^[8][7]

Word family

• herniaire
• hernieux
• herniole

Related words

• Latin hernia

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 k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert