carotides

Forms

carōtides f pl (genitive carōtidum); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek καρωτίδες (karōtídes, “carotid arteries”).^[2][1] The Greek physician Rufus already derived the Greek word from καρόω (karóō, “to stupefy, plunge into deep sleep”),^[3][1] because cutting off the flow of blood through these arteries was believed to cause loss of consciousness.^[1][4] Etymonline notes that this may be a folk etymology.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Greek the physicians Aretaeus and Galen use the word of the carotid arteries;^[3] the Latin plural has the same anatomical sense.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

Wiktionary labels the anatomical term New Latin^[1] and lists English carotid as borrowed from it,^[1] while Etymonline derives the English word, first recorded in the 1540s, straight from the Greek.^[4]

Timeline

• 1540s – English carotid is first recorded, of the two great arteries of the neck.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy, plural) The carotid arteries, the two great arteries of the neck.^[2][1]

Related words

• English carotid

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com