utérus

Forms

utérus m (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin uterus (“belly, womb”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word may be related to venter (“belly”), and to words for “belly” in Sanskrit, Old Prussian and Greek.^[4]

Cognate with Italian utero.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the works of the surgeon Paré, which the TLFi dates 1573 and other dictionaries about 1560:^[2][4][6][7] L'enfant a besoin quasi d'estre comme recuit et retenu dans l'uterus jusques à deux ou trois mois après (“the child needs, as it were, to be further cooked and kept in the uterus for two or three months more”).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the sense of its Latin etymon and was at first a medical term; it became the everyday word as matrice grew old-fashioned.^[4] The GLLF gives a second record in 1710.^[7] Littré's medical utérus irritable named a painful inflammatory condition of the organ.^[5] Zoology applies it to the organ of gestation of the higher female animals and, in invertebrates, to the part of the reproductive tract where eggs or embryos stay.^[8][7]

Timeline

• 1573 – Paré uses uterus in his works.^[2]
• 1710 – A second record is cited by the GLLF.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The uterus or womb, the hollow muscular organ in the pelvis of a woman in which the fertilised egg develops; a synonym of matrice.^[2][8][1]
2. (zoology) The organ of gestation of the female of higher animals, and, in invertebrates, the part of the reproductive tract that holds the eggs or embryos.^[8][7]

Related words

• utérin
• extra-utérin
• intra-utérin
• Latin uterus

References

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