sarcoma

Forms

sarcōma n (genitive sarcōmatis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σάρκωμα (sárkōma, “fleshy growth”),^[1][2] a derivative of σάρξ (sárx, “flesh”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Isidore of Seville uses it in the Etymologiae (4.7.28) as a surgical term for a fleshy growth.^[1][2] He describes it as a superfluous growth of flesh by which bodies are fattened beyond measure.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed a technical term of medicine.^[1][2] English took it over in the 1650s as Medical Latin for a fleshy excrescence; the sense of a harmful tumour of the connective tissue dates from 1804.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville defines it as a superfluous growth of flesh.^[1][4][2]
• 1650s – Borrowed into English as sarcoma, a fleshy excrescence.^[3]
• 1804 – In English it comes to mean a harmful tumour of the connective tissue.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) A fleshy excrescence or growth, a sarcoma.^[1][4][2]

Related words

• English sarcoma

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
2. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre