ἀορτή

Forms

ᾰ̓ορτή (aortḗ) f (genitive ᾰ̓ορτῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an action noun from Ancient Greek ἀείρω (aeírō, “to attach, hang up”), meaning first “something attached”, a bag tied on.^[2][3][4] Beekes takes the verb in this sense as a separate entry from the verb meaning “to raise”, while Chantraine considers it a technical use of the same verb.^[2][4] Beekes connects the root with Proto-Indo-European *uerH- (“to bind, hang on”), seen in Lithuanian virvė̃ (“string”), and closest to Greek in Albanian vjerr (“to hang, suspend”);^[2] Wiktionary gives Proto-Indo-European *h₂wortéh₂, from *h₂wer-.^[1] Pokorny infers an older form with /w/ from Latin averta (“saddlebag”), a Latin loanword from it.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Hippocratic writings of the 5th century BC, where the plural names the bronchial tubes and, in the treatise on the heart, the great arteries that spring from the heart.^[6][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle used the singular for the great artery of the heart, the aorta, and this became its lasting sense.^[6][3] Pollux later used the plural for arteries in general.^[6][3][8] In everyday Greek the older sense of a thing hung up survived: comic poets of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, Menander, Diphilus and Posidippus, use it of a knapsack carried from the shoulders, and a papyrus has it too.^[6][3][1] An arithmetical treatise uses it of the point from which a balance hangs.^[6][3]

Through Medieval Latin aorta, the Medieval Latin form, the anatomical term reached English as aorta in the 1590s, and French, German, Russian and Spanish took it as well.^[8][1] Modern Greek αορτή (aortí) is a learned revival of the ancient word; its derivative αορτικός (aortikós) renders French aortique.^[9][7]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use the plural of the bronchial tubes and of the great arteries leaving the heart.^[6][3]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the singular for the aorta.^[6][3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Menander and Diphilus use it of a knapsack.^[6][3]
• 2nd century AD – Pollux uses the plural for the arteries.^[6][3]
• 1590s – English borrows aorta through Medieval Latin.^[8]
• Modern Greek – The learned αορτή (aortí) names the aorta.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (in the plural, medicine) The bronchi, the lower branches of the windpipe.^[6][1]
2. (medicine) The great arteries springing from the heart; in the singular, the aorta; in the plural, the arteries.^[6][3]
3. A knapsack hanging from the shoulders.^[6][3]
4. The point from which a balance is suspended.^[6][3]

Related words

• ἀείρω (aeírō)
• ἀορτήρ (aortḗr)
• ἀρτάω (artáō)
• ἀρτηρία (artēríā)
• English aorta

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
4. ^ a b Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki