ingestion

Forms

ingestion f (plural ingestions)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin ingestiō (“the action of taking in (food)”),^[2][3][1] a noun formed on ingestum, the supine of ingerō (“to carry in, pour in”),^[3][4][5] from in- (“in, into”) and gerō (“to carry”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle French had ingession in 1407 for “interfering, meddling”.^[2][3][4] The sense “taking in of food or drink” is found once in 1520, in Le Guidon en françoys, a surgical text.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

After the isolated record of 1520 the word was taken up again in medicine in 1821, by Chomel, shortly before the verb ingérer in the same sense.^[2][3] The Grand Robert and the GLLF date it from Brillat-Savarin, in 1825 or 1826.^[5][4] It has remained a learned word of physiology.^[6] Since 1902 it has also named the taking of a foreign body into the cell of a one-celled organism.^[6][4]

Timeline

• 1407 – Ingession “meddling” is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1520 – An isolated record in Le Guidon en françoys for taking in food.^[2]
• 1821 – Chomel uses it in a medical work.^[2][3]
• 1825 – Brillat-Savarin uses it.^[5][6]
• 1902 – Larousse records the sense in cell biology.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (physiology) Ingestion: the taking of food, drink or a substance by the mouth into the digestive tract: l'ingestion d'un médicament.^[6][2][7]
2. (biology) The taking of a foreign body into the cytoplasm of a unicellular organism.^[4]

Related words

• ingérer
• digestion
• Latin ingerō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette