ovaire

Forms

ovaire m (plural ovaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin ovārium, a term of modern medical Latin;^[2][3][4] Medieval Latin already had ovāria in the 13th century.^[2][3][4] The Latin word is formed on classical Latin ōvum (“egg”).^[3][5][4] Wiktionary calls the French word a semi-learned borrowing and glosses the medieval form as the ovary of a bird.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1672, in Charas's Nouvelles expériences sur la vipère, as the female organ that produces eggs.^[2] The GLLF dates it to 1673, in a work by Denis.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to physiology, for the female genital organ that produces ova and sex hormones.^[3] From the 18th century it is also used in botany for the lower part of the pistil, which holds the ovules: the TLFi and the DHLF date this sense to 1718, in Sébastien Vaillant's discourse on the structure of flowers, while the GLLF and the Petit Robert give 1746.^[2][3][6][7]

Learned derivatives followed: ovarien (1820), first in botany, and medical terms formed on the Latin word, such as ovarite (1832), ovariotomie (1855) and ovariectomie (1901).^[3]

Timeline

• 1672 – First record, in Charas's work on the viper.^[2][3]
• 1718 – Sébastien Vaillant uses it in botany for part of the pistil.^[2][3]
• 1820 – The adjective ovarien appears.^[3]
• 1832 – Ovarite “inflammation of the ovary” is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1855 – Ovariotomie appears.^[3]
• 1901 – Ovariectomie appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) An ovary, the paired female gland that produces ova and sex hormones.^[7][2]
2. (botany) The lower part of the pistil or carpel, holding the ovules that become seeds after fertilization.^[7][8]

Word family

• ovariotomie
• ovarite
• ovarien
• ovariectomie

Related words

• œuf
• ovule
• Latin ōvum

Usage notes

Littré also records ovaire as a feminine adjective in pierre ovaire, a name for oolites and fossil sea urchins.^[8]

References

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