cystis

Forms

cystis f (genitive cystis or cysteos); third declension^[1] Medieval spellings include kystis, kistis, quistis, cistis and cystys.^[1] British sources also have cysta.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κύστις (kústis, “bladder, pouch”).^{[3][1][2][4][5]} The Greek word is of uncertain origin;^[6] Beekes reports Wackernagel's analysis as a suffix ⟨-τι-⟩ on the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *ḱues- (“hiss, sigh”), and also considers a Pre-Greek origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vindicianus uses it in a medical text for the place to which urine flows down, “which we call cystis in Greek”, that is, the bladder.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin it was an anatomical term for a membranous sac or bladder: with fellis the gall bladder, the urinary bladder, and with testiculorum the scrotum; it also meant a cyst.^[1][2] More broadly it could mean a container or box.^[1]

English used cystis as a Latin word from the 1540s and anglicised it as cyst in 1713.^[5]

Timeline

• 4th century AD – Vindicianus uses it of the urinary bladder.^[3][4]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it in his work on animals for an anatomical sac.^[1][4]
• 1540s – Used in English as a Latin word.^[5]
• 1713 – English cyst appears.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin, anatomy) The urinary bladder.^[3][1]
2. (Medieval Latin, anatomy) A membranous sac; with fellis, the gall bladder; with testiculorum, the scrotum.^[1][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A cyst.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A container, box.^[1]

Related words

• English cyst

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
2. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b 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