tendon

Forms

tendon m (plural tendons)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French tendre¹ + -on in 1536.^[2][3][4][5] The anatomical word arose when nerf, until then the only name for ligaments and the cords of the muscles, began to take its present sense.^[4][3] The verb's influence probably combined with that of Ancient Greek τένων (ténōn, “tendon, sinew”), from τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”): the TLFi, the Grand Robert and Bloch and Wartburg allow that the anatomical sense may come from the Greek word altered after the verb.^[3][2][6][4] Old Occitan already had tendon for the Achilles tendon in 1213, perhaps the Greek word remodelled in the same way.^[2][3][4] Middle French had used the present participle tendant as a noun in the same sense about 1390, and Picoche treats the word as a variant of it.^[3][4][7]

Meyer-Lübke reconstructs Latin *tendō (“sinew”) for Italian tendine, Spanish tendón and Portuguese tendão, and takes the late appearance in French and the double endings ⟨-ine⟩ and ⟨-one⟩ as signs of a medieval coinage by physicians.^[8] Wiktionary likewise takes the French word from Medieval Latin tendō,^[1] and Etymonline derives the English word from the Medieval Latin, an alteration of a Late Latin borrowing of the Greek.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Guillaume Chrestien's Philalèthes (1536), on the anatomical errors about parts of the body, has the first record in the anatomical sense.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

By analogy it was used in 1542 for the tendril of the vine.^[3] Richelet (1680) records it for the back of a horse's leg, the hard cord between the knee and the fetlock.^[2][10] Tendon d'Achille, for the large tendon of the heel, is recorded in the Encyclopédie in 1765.^[2][10][3] The word is no longer felt as connected with the verb tendre.^[3]

Timeline

• 1536 – First recorded in anatomy, in Guillaume Chrestien's Philalèthes.^[2][10]
• 1542 – Used for the tendril of the vine.^[3]
• 16th century – Ambroise Paré describes muscles that produce several tendons.^[11]
• 1680 – Richelet records the sense “back of a horse's leg”.^[2][10]
• 1765 – Tendon d'Achille appears in the Encyclopédie.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) A tendon: the fibrous, pearly white cord by which a muscle is attached to a bone.^{[5][12][13][2]}
2. Tendon d'Achille: the Achilles tendon, the large tendon of the heel.^[5][13][12]
3. (veterinary) The hard cord at the back of a horse's leg, between the knee and the fetlock.^[10][2]
4. This tissue in meat.^[12]

Related words

• tendre¹
• tendineux
• Latin tendō

Usage notes

An earlier tendon, in Eustache Deschamps at the end of the 14th century, named the restharrow, a plant whose roots stop the plough; it was formed on tendre independently of the anatomical word.^[2][4][3] Agrippa d'Aubigné used tendons for the leading strings of children.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
12. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
13. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)