spore

Forms

spore f (plural spores)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σπορά (sporá, “sowing, seed”), a learned borrowing of 1817, from σπείρω (speírō, “to sow, scatter”).^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary has it come through New Latin spora.^[1] Bloch and Wartburg note that the Greek word was taken for a special sense.^[4]

Picoche places it in the family of an Indo-European root meaning “to scatter, sow”, with sperme, sporadique and diaspora from Greek and épars from Latin spargō (“to scatter”).^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1817 in Gérardin de Mirecourt's Dictionnaire raisonné de botanique, for the reproductive body of flowerless plants, with a cross-reference to sporule.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Spore replaced the earlier term granule for the corpuscle by which many plants, and fungi in particular, reproduce, at first in competition with sporule.^[3][7] It was extended to some protists in 1907.^[3] Later biology applied it to the resistant form of some bacteria.^[8][2]

The word gave many technical derivatives and compounds: sporange (1817), sporophore (1859), sporulation (1875), sporuler (1877) and sporifère (1879), as well as compounds in -spore and sporo-.^[3][4][6] The English word spore (1836) is from the same Greek word through New Latin.^[9]

Timeline

• 1817 – First recorded, in Gérardin de Mirecourt's dictionary of botany;^[2][3] sporange appears the same year.^[2][3]
• 1836 – English borrows spore from New Latin.^[9]
• 1859 – The compound sporophore is first recorded.^[4]
• 1875 – Sporulation is first recorded.^[3]
• 1907 – The word is applied to protists.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (biology, botany) A reproductive cell of fungi, mosses, ferns, algae and some protozoans, which can give rise to a new individual without fertilization.^[2][8][10]
2. (microbiology) Spore bactérienne: a rounded, resistant form taken by some bacteria in unfavourable conditions.^[8][10]
3. (botany) In seed plants, the reproductive corpuscle formed in the anthère (male spores) or in the nucellus (female spores).^[8]

Word family

• sporange
• sporule
• sporuler
• sporulation
• sporifère
• sporophore
• macrospore
• microspore
• zoospore

Related words

• sporadique
• sperme
• diaspora
• épars
• Ancient Greek σπορά (sporá)

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse