vesica

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [weːˈsiː.ka]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [veˈs̬iː.ka]^[1]

Forms

vēsīca f (genitive vēsīcae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3] De Vaan follows André, who takes vēsīca as the original form, the spelling vēnsīca being a Vulgar Latin confusion of ⟨ēs⟩ and ⟨ēns⟩.^[2][4] André compares vīsīre “to fart softly” and takes the root as imitating the sound of a deflating bladder, since bladders were blown up as balloons and bagpipes, and words for “bladder” often come from words for “to blow”.^[2][1] The OLD compares Sanskrit वस्ति (vastí, “bladder”) with a “perhaps”, and Watkins calls it perhaps a taboo deformation of the root *udero- “belly”.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose parasite wants food to go into his belly, not his bladder.^[2][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant the urinary bladder of people or animals, and an animal's bladder put to use: blown up as a balloon, as Horace's figure bursting with the noise of a bladder, or made into a purse, a cap, a lantern or a ball.^[5][4] In medicine it meant a blister or cyst, as Celsus' fatty swellings on the upper eyelids.^[5] Manuscripts often spell it vensīca or vessīca.^[4]

In Medieval Latin it remained the anatomical word, glossed in Old English as “bladder”.^[7] English vesica “a sac, the bladder” was taken into anatomy in the 1690s.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus contrasts the bladder with the belly.^[5][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace compares a noise to a bursting bladder.^[5][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of blisters on the eyelids.^[5][6]
• 1690s – Borrowed into English anatomy as vesica.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The bladder.^[5]
2. An animal's bladder used as a balloon, purse, cap or lantern.^[5][4]
3. A blister, cyst, bladder-like swelling.^[5]

Related words

• English vesicle
• English vesica

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ 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