vasculaire

Forms

vasculaire (plural vasculaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vāsculum (“small vessel”) with the suffix -aire, a learned formation made to serve as the anatomical adjective of the French word for a vessel.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is the diminutive of vās (“vessel”), the source of vase¹.^[2][3][5] Middle French had borrowed the Latin noun as vascule “small vessel” (about 1500), used in anatomy from 1562 before vaisseau replaced it.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1721 in the Dictionnaire de Trévoux, meaning “full of vessels”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In anatomy the adjective first described what contains vessels.^[2][3] From 1765 (the Encyclopédie, le système vasculaire) it was also used of what concerns the vessels, especially the blood vessels and their diseases.^[2][3] Following the new botanical sense of vaisseau, it was applied from 1807 to plant tissue in which some cells form vessels, hence plantes vasculaires as opposed to cellular plants.^[2][3]

Formed on the same stem were vascularisé (1846), vascularisation (1846) and the verb vasculariser (1942).^[3]

Timeline

• 1721 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records vasculaire “full of vessels”.^[2][4]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie writes of le système vasculaire.^[2][3]
• 1807 – Chaptal writes of végétaux vasculaires in botany.^[2][3]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records tissu vasculaire.^[2][6]
• 1846 – Vascularisé and vascularisation appear.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (anatomy, medicine) Of or relating to the vessels of the body, especially the blood vessels; vascular: le système vasculaire, accident vasculaire cérébral.^[2][7][8]
2. (botany) Containing vessels: tissu vasculaire, plantes vasculaires.^[2][7][5]

Word family

• vascularisé
• vascularisation
• vasculariser

Related words

• vaisseau
• vase¹
• Latin vāsculum

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 k 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. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)