séminal

Forms

séminal (feminine séminale, masculine plural séminaux, feminine plural séminales)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sēminālis (“intended for sowing, prolific”), first recorded in 1372.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin adjective is formed from sēmen (“seed”), the source of semence and akin to semer.^[3][6][4] In Latin it meant “intended to be sown” in Columella and was used of the seminal veins by Lactantius; its neuter plural sēminālia meant sown fields or crops.^[2][3]

Cognate with Occitan seminal, Spanish seminal and Italian seminale.^[7] The English word seminal (late 14th century) comes from the Old French word and directly from Latin.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is vertu seminale, the seed-bearing power of a tree, in Corbichon's translation of the Propriétés des choses (1372, in a 15th-century manuscript); the phrase has since gone out of use.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1555, when Belon wrote of the humeur seminale of birds, the adjective has applied to the male seed or sperm.^[2][3] Paré speaks of matiere seminale in the 16th century.^[7] Cotgrave (1611) used it of plant seeds, a sense seen in lobes séminaux “cotyledons” (1765) and feuilles séminales (1835), both now archaic.^[3][9]

In philosophy it took up the first use again in raison séminale du monde (1842), said of Neoplatonism; this sense is dated but survives in learned writing.^[3] In modern French the word belongs to anatomy and physiology, as in vésicules séminales and pertes séminales, both recorded by Littré in 1871.^[9][7]

Timeline

• 1372 – Vertu seminale appears in Corbichon's translation of the Propriétés des choses.^[2][3]
• 1555 – Belon applies it to the seed of birds.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records it of plant seeds.^[3][9]
• 1765 – Lobes séminaux “cotyledons” is recorded.^[3]
• 1835 – The Académie records feuilles séminales.^[9][3]
• 1842 – Raison séminale du monde is used of Neoplatonism.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (anatomy, physiology) Relating to semen or sperm: liquide séminal “seminal fluid”, vésicules séminales “seminal vesicles”.^[10][11][2]
2. Glandes séminales: the testicles.^[2]
3. (botany, dated) Relating to the seeds of plants: lobes séminaux “cotyledons”.^[9][7]

Related words

• semence
• semer
• séminifère
• Latin sēmen

References

1. ^ a b 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 m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 433a
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)