ventralis

Forms

ventrālis (neuter ventrāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin venter (“belly”) + -ālis.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder has the neuter noun ventrale for a belly-band or a pad worn on the belly.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective, “of the belly”, it appears in Macrobius, of a humour of the belly.^[2][4][5] In the medical work that goes under the name of Pliny and in other late texts the noun named a belt with a pouch, worn as a money belt,^[3] a sense Köbler records from the Code of Justinian.^[6] Lewis and Short mark its use in the Digest as doubtful.^[2] In British medieval Latin it was also used of the womb.^[7] English took ventral in 1739, from French or directly from Late Latin.^[8]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses ventrale for a belly-band.^[2][6]
• first half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses the adjective of a humour of the belly.^[2][6]
• 528–534 AD – The Code of Justinian has the noun for a belt with a money pouch.^[6]
• 1739 – English borrows it as ventral, first in pathology.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the belly, abdominal.^[2][5][9]
2. (Medieval Latin) Of the womb.^[7]

Noun

1. (neuter, ventrāle) A belly-band or pad worn on the belly.^[2][3]
2. (Late Latin) A belt with a pouch, a money belt.^[3][6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli