inhalation

Forms

inhalation f (plural inhalations)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin inhālātiō (“exhalation”),^[2][3][4] formed on inhālātum, the supine of Latin inhālō (“to breathe on”).^[5][4][6] At first it was used in a sense close to the Latin one; it was later taken as the opposite of exhalation.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1760 as a term of mineralogy, in d'Holbach's translation of Henckel's Pyritologie: an exhalation by which a substance given off enters another and penetrates it.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The first senses, in mineralogy (1760) and in physiology (1805, Cuvier: the absorption of surrounding fluids by pores and vessels), are now obsolete.^[3][2] Boiste applied it in 1823 to plants taking in the fluids around them.^[4]

From 1845 the word, now read after inhaler, named the absorption of gases and vapours through the respiratory tract.^[3][2] In medicine and in everyday use it has meant since 1867 the breathing in through the nose of vapours that disinfect or clear congestion, as in faire des inhalations.^[3][2][4] Littré records it for ether or chloroform breathed in to produce insensibility.^[6]

Timeline

• 1760 – First recorded as a term of mineralogy, in d'Holbach.^[2][4]
• 1805 – Cuvier uses it in physiology.^[2]
• 1823 – Boiste applies it to plants absorbing fluids.^[4]
• 1845 – Used for breathing in gases or vapours.^[2][3]
• 1867 – Littré records the medical sense of breathing in vapours.^[2][3]
• 1873 – The derivative inhalateur appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The breathing in of a gas, a vapour or dust through the respiratory tract: l'inhalation de fumées toxiques.^[7][8][2]
2. (medicine) The breathing in of medicated vapours to disinfect or relieve the airways, a fumigation: faire des inhalations.^[7][8][9]
3. (medicine) The administration of a drug or anaesthetic by breathing it in: anesthésie par inhalation.^[4][7]

Related words

• inhaler
• inhalateur
• exhalation
• exhaler
• Latin inhālō

Usage notes

Its opposite is exhalation.^[7][2]

References

1. ^ a b 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)