ernia

Forms

ernia f (plural ernie)^[1] Old Italian also wrote hernia.^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin hernia (“rupture”).^{[3][4][5][1][6]} The Latin word is first found in Celsus, with the derivative herniōsus.^[6][3] In Latin it already meant a scrotal rupture.^[7]

Inherited outcomes are rare: Old French hergne and hargne were replaced by the learned French hernie from the 15th century.^[8][6] In the dialect of Lucca lèrnia and lòrnia mean a weakling, and lornione a slow, tiresome person.^[6][7]

DELI and GRADIT call the origin of the Latin word uncertain, and Devoto found no Indo-European connection.^[3][5][9] Nocentini traces it to Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“entrails”), comparing Proto-Germanic *garnō (“gut”) (whence German Garn (“yarn”)) and Lithuanian žarnà (“intestine”).^[4] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerH-ni-eh₂, from *ǵʰerH- (“bowels”), and compares Sanskrit हिर (hira), Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “gut, string”) and Old English ġearn (“yarn”).^[1] An older derivation from Ancient Greek ἔρνος (érnos, “shoot, branch”) is given by Tommaseo.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Belcalzer's Mantuan translation (1299–1309), for an organ or viscus pushed out of the cavity that normally holds it.^[2] DELI's earliest examples are ernia acquosa, carnosa and ventosa in the 14th-century surgery of Guglielmo.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval medicine used the word broadly: for a swelling of the thyroid, for a watery swelling round the testicle (ernia acquosa, hydrocele) and for wind escaping from the bowel (ernia ventosa).^[2] The adjective ernioso appears early in the 14th century, and erniaria, a plant once used against hernia, in the first half of the same century.^[3][4]

Later centuries sorted the kinds by place and state: Tommaseo distinguishes reducible, irreducible and strangulated hernias.^[10] Erniario dates from 1797 and erniotomia from 1820.^[3] In everyday use the word alone means an abdominal or groin hernia, and ernia del disco a slipped disc.^[8][12] Botany took it for a fungal disease of the roots of cabbages and turnips, and for a bent stem in grasses.^[5][12]

Timeline

• 1299–1309 – First record, in Belcalzer (Mantuan).^[2]
• Early 14th century – Ernioso is recorded.^[3]
• 14th century – Guglielmo writes of ernia acquosa, carnosa and ventosa.^[3]
• 1797 – Erniario is recorded.^[3]
• 1820 – Erniotomia is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (pathology) hernia: the passing of an organ or part of it out of its natural cavity: un'ernia inguinale.^{[5][13][14][1]}
2. (botany) clubroot, a disease of the roots of cabbages, turnips and other crucifers, caused by a parasitic fungus.^[5][13][15]
3. (botany) A hook-like bend in a lower joint of a grass stem, caused by lack of potassium and too much moisture.^[5][12]

Word family

• erniario
• ernioso
• erniotomia
• erniaria
• erniarsi
• ernista

Related words

• Latin hernia
• French hernie

Usage notes

Common phrases are ernia del disco (slipped disc), ernia inguinale and ernia strozzata (strangulated hernia).^[5][13][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1523
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli