plexus

Forms

plexus m (uncountable)^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin plexus (“interweaving, entwining”), from the past participle of Latin plectō (“to plait, to twist”).^[3][4][5][6] The Latin word had already taken its anatomical sense in Modern Latin, in Vassée's anatomical tables of 1541.^[3][4] Bloch and Wartburg describe it as borrowed for this special sense.^[7]

Littré puts the Latin verb with plicō, the source of plier.^[8] Picoche lists it in that family, beside complexe and perplexe.^[9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Paré introduced it into French in his anatomy, recorded in 1575 by the TLFi, for a network of nerves or blood vessels:^[3][4] he speaks of a branch of the carotid artery forming the plexus admirable.^[8] Quemada's datings find it in Paré as early as 1560.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word has stayed an anatomical term for a network of interwoven nerves or vessels, and it enters several anatomical names.^[4][3] Of these, plexus solaire (1810), the nerve centre behind the stomach, is fairly common in everyday French, because the spot is known as a weak point in some fighting techniques;^[4][11] plexus alone can mean the same.^[4][11]

The learned adjective plexulaire was formed from it about 1950 and is used only in technical writing.^[4]

Timeline

• 1541 – The Latin plexus is used in its anatomical sense in Vassée's anatomical tables.^[3][4]
• 1560 – Paré uses the word in French.^[10]
• 1575 – Paré's Deuxième livre de l'anatomie, the TLFi's first record.^[3]
• 1810 – Plexus solaire is recorded.^[4]
• c. 1950 – The derivative plexulaire appears.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) A network of nerves or small vessels that branch and join in a complex way: le plexus brachial, le plexus cervical.^[3][11][12]
2. Plexus solaire: the solar plexus, in the pit of the stomach; also plexus alone: Il a reçu un coup au plexus.^[11][6]

Related words

• plier
• complexe
• perplexe
• Latin plexus
• Latin plectō

References

1. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)