hernia

Forms

hernia f (genitive herniae); first declension^[1] The OLD and Conte head it as hirnea;^[2][3] the glosses also have hirnia.^[4]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerH-ni-eh₂, from *ǵʰerH- (“bowels, intestines”).^[1] The TLL derives it from a stem *herno- (“gut”),^[5] and the OLD and Walde compare haruspex.^[2][6] De Vaan, without discussing hernia, connects haruspex with a root ⟨*ǵhrH-⟩ “intestines”, found also in Lithuanian žarnà (“intestine, hose”) and Old Norse gǫrn (“intestines”).^[7] Lewis & Short instead suggest Ancient Greek ἔρνος (érnos, “sprout”), comparing rāmex beside rāmus.^[8]

Cognate with Sanskrit हिर (hira), Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ) and Old English ġearn.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first example the TLL lists is in poem 12 of the Catalepton, transmitted under Virgil's name, where some editors took the word instead as hirnea “jug”.^[5][3] Celsus, the first dated author, explains that the Greeks name such ruptures enterocele and epiplocele, but in Latin the common name is the “indecorous” hernia.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

It always meant a rupture, especially a scrotal hernia.^[2][8] Martial and Juvenal use it in jokes, Juvenal of “Nestor's hernia”, and Arnobius says people would not shrink from calling the gods ruptured.^[5]

English took the word in the late 14th century as hirnia, and re-Latinised its spelling in the 17th century.^[10] Italian ernia continues it.^[3]

Timeline

• 14–37 AD – Celsus calls the rupture hernia.^[5][9]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial mentions a huge hernia.^[5][4][9]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal speaks of Nestor's hernia.^[5][3][9]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it of the gods.^[5][4][9]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as hirnia.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rupture, a hernia, especially a scrotal hernia.^[2][8][5]

Related words

• hira
• haruspex
• English hernia

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Walde, Alois (1906), Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com