membrane

Forms

membrane f (plural membranes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin membrāna (“membrane, skin, parchment”), an anatomical borrowing.^[2][3][4] The Latin noun is derived from membrum (“limb”) (source of membre) and properly meant the skin that covers the limbs.^[2][4][5]

The sources date it differently: the TLFi and the Petit Robert about 1370, the GLLF 1363, both in Guy de Chauliac, the Grand Robert about 1320, and Bloch and Wartburg only 1555.^{[2][6][7][8][5]}

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie (about 1370), for the thin, supple tissue that wraps, forms or lines the organs.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From anatomy the word passed very early to plants, for the envelope of some of their parts (1505).^[2][4] In embryology the plural les membranes meant the fetal membranes (Buffon, 1749), and pathology used fausse membrane for an abnormal film on a mucous surface (1840).^[2][4][7] Ambroise Paré's 16th-century definition, quoted by Littré, describes it as a broad, flat, thin but strong part of the body.^[9]

Later it gained technical senses: the vibrating plate of a telephone (1877) and, in physics and chemistry, a thin partition that lets some substances through and stops others, as in membrane semi-perméable.^[2][4][7] Cytology took it up for the cell membrane (1856).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1370 – Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie uses it in anatomy.^[2]
• 1505 – Used of a plant's envelope.^[2][4]
• 1538 – The derivative membraneux is recorded.^[4][5]
• 1749 – Buffon uses les membranes for the fetal membranes.^[2]
• 1840 – Fausse membrane in pathology.^[4][7]
• 1856 – First used in cytology.^[2]
• 1877 – The vibrating plate of a telephone.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) A thin layer of tissue that wraps an organ or lines a cavity or duct: membrane muqueuse, fausse membrane.^[6][2]
2. (botany) A plant tissue or cell layer serving as an envelope or partition.^[6]
3. (biology) The differentiated, usually semi-permeable layer bounding a cell or its noyau.^[6]
4. (physics, chemistry) A thin partition: membrane semi-perméable.^[6][7]
5. A thin vibrating sheet, as in a loudspeaker or a telephone.^[6][2]

Word family

• membraneux

Related words

• membre
• Latin membrāna

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 m n o 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 689a
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette