sphincter

Forms

sphinctēr m (genitive sphinctēris); third declension^[1] Köbler records the spellings spīnctēr and fīctēr.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σφιγκτήρ (sphinktḗr, “band; contractile muscle”),^[3][4][1] from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “to bind tight”) with the agent suffix -τήρ (-tḗr).^[1][5] Etymonline calls the verb a word of unknown origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates the first record to the veterinary treatise of Chiron.^[2] In the passage that Lewis & Short and Georges cite, Caelius Aurelianus uses it for the muscle of the anus.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Latin it is a medical word for the ring muscle closing the anus.^[3][4][7] Köbler also gives the senses “bracelet” and the spellings spīnctēr and fīctēr.^[2] The Greek word was first used in the anatomical sense by Galen,^[6] and English took sphincter from French in the 1570s, from the Late Latin word.^[6]

Timeline

• 4th century AD – First recorded in Chiron.^[2]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of the anal sphincter.^[3][4][2]
• 1570s – English borrows sphincter through French.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin, anatomy) The sphincter, the ring muscle of the anus.^[3][4]
2. (Late Latin) A bracelet.^[2]

Related words

• English sphincter

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
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 e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.