rétine

Forms

rétine f (plural rétines)^[1] Henri de Mondeville writes retine in 1314, and the French translation of Lanfranc has rectine.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin rētīna, a word of medieval medical Latin recorded about 1250.^[3][4][5] The Latin word is formed from classical rēte (“net, snare”), because the retina shows a network of blood vessels;^[3][4] Wiktionary takes it as a diminutive, “small net”.^[1] The same Latin noun gave French rets.^[3][5]

Littré compares Old Occitan rethina, Spanish retina and Italian retina.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Henri de Mondeville's Chirurgie of 1314 uses it for the inner coat of the eye: “De la substance nerveuse du nerf obtique est engendrée la retine” (“from the nervous substance of the optic nerve the retina is formed”).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its anatomical sense;^[4] Rey describes it as a physiological term that has become fairly common.^[4] By analogy, rétine électrique (1973) names the set of light-sensitive cells of an optical reader, though it is much rarer than œil électrique.^[4]

In the 19th and 20th centuries it gave about ten scientific terms, among them rétinite “inflammation of the retina” (1830) and rétinien (1854), the most common;^[4][3] rétinal and rétinol were taken from English about 1970.^[4][3]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Medieval Latin retina is recorded.^[3]
• 1314 – Henri de Mondeville uses retine in his Chirurgie.^[3][5][2]
• 1830 – The derivative rétinite appears.^[4]
• 1854 – Rétinien is first recorded, in apoplexie rétinienne.^[3][4]
• 1969 – Rétinol is taken from English.^[4]
• 1973 – Rétine électrique is used of an optical reader.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The retina, the light-sensitive inner membrane at the back of the eye, which passes visual signals to the brain through the optic nerve.^[3][6][7]
2. Décollement de la rétine: detachment of the retina.^[3][6][7]
3. Rétine électrique: the light-sensitive cells of an optical reader.^[4]

Word family

• rétinien
• rétinite

Related words

• rets
• Latin rēte

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 l 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse