urethra

Forms

ūrēthra f (genitive ūrēthrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek οὐρήθρα (ourḗthra, “urethra”).^[1][2][3][4] The Greek word is a derivative of οὐρέω (ouréō, “to urinate”);^[5][3] Etymonline says it was coined by Hippocrates.^[6] Beekes traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *u̯ers- (“to urinate”), an iterative formation from the root of Sanskrit and Avestan words for raining.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author the dictionaries cite is the physician Caelius Aurelianus, in his work on chronic diseases, for the canal through which urine leaves the bladder.^[2][7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

It stayed a medical term.^[4] Italian has it as uretra, from the Late Latin word.^[4] English borrowed it in the 1630s.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it for the urinary canal.^[2][3]
• 1630s – Borrowed into English as urethra.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) The urethra, the canal that carries urine out of the bladder.^[2][7][4]

Related words

• English urethra

Usage notes

Georges notes that the purely Latin expression for it was mictualis via.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn