vena

Forms

vēna f (genitive vēnae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

There is no agreed etymology.^[2][3] De Vaan sets up Proto-Italic *wes-no/ā- (“blood-vessel”) and Proto-Indo-European *ues-no- (“of blood”), connecting it with Avestan vohuna- (“blood”) and perhaps Sanskrit वसा (vásā, “fat, lard”).^[2] He also reports Muller's idea, based on Cato's description of the veins as air pipes, of a derivation from *h₂u̯eh₁- (“to blow”), and roots meaning “to convey” such as ⟨*uedʰ-⟩ or ⟨*ueǵʰ-⟩, which leave unclear why a blood vessel would be named the conveyor.^[2] Lewis & Short similarly thought of the root of vehō (“to carry”), “a pipe, channel”, and Köbler gives ⟨*ueis-⟩ “to flow” (Pokorny 1134).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato, De agri cultura, says that when the veins are puffed up by food they cannot breathe through the whole body.^[3][2][5] Accius, in a tragedy, speaks of veins of the vitals steeped in a viper's poison.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Vēna is any blood vessel, vein or artery, in humans and animals;^[3] Cicero distinguishes the veins, which carry blood, from the arteries, which carry breath, and vēna cava is the great trunk vein.^[3] It is used of other ducts such as the ureter (Celsus), of the penis, and of the pulse that doctors feel (Cicero).^[3][1] By likeness it is a channel of sap and the vein of a leaf, the grain of timber, a streak in stone, a fissure in rock, an underground stream feeding a larger water, an irrigation trench, and a vein of ore: Cicero praises the human skill that finds veins of copper, silver and gold deep in the earth.^[3] Figuratively it is a store of talent (Horace: ingenī benigna vēna) and a particular strain of genius (Juvenal).^[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “vein, inclination”;^[6] in medieval Latin it is also a river bed.^[7] English vein (c. 1300) came through Old French, and medical Latin kept vēna in names such as vena cava.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of veins puffed up by food.^[3][2][5]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of poisoned veins.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of veins and arteries, the pulse and veins of ore.^[3][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of a vein of talent.^[3][5]
• c. 1300 – English vein, through Old French.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A blood vessel, vein or artery.^[3][1][6]
2. Another duct of the body; the pulse;^[3][1] (vulgar) the penis.^[3][1]
3. A vein in a leaf, the grain of wood, a streak in stone.^[3][1]
4. A fissure in rock; an underground stream, a watercourse; an irrigation channel.^[3][1]
5. A vein of ore.^[3][1]
6. (figurative) A store of talent; a particular bent, genius; inclination.^[3][1][6]
7. (Medieval Latin) A river bed.^[7]

Word family

• vēnātilis
• vēnōsus
• vēnula

Related words

• English vein

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com