placenta Latin · revision 32922

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=grc πλακοῦς}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [pɫaˈkɛn.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [plaˈt͡ʃɛn.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''placenta''' ''f'' (genitive placentae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A neuter ''placentum'' also occurs.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|πλακόεντα|tr=plakóenta]], adapted from the accusative of [[m|grc|πλακόεις|tr=plakóeis]] or [[m|grc|πλακοῦς|tr=plakoûs|t=flat cake]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The TLL notes the change of gender, as in [[cratera|alt=crātēra]] from the masculine [[m|grc|κρατήρ|tr=kratḗr]], and explains the ending ⟨-enta⟩ rather from [[polenta]] than from [[placeo|alt=placēns]].^(TLL) Wiktionary takes the Greek word from [[m|grc|πλάξ|tr=pláx|t=flat]], and Köbler cites Pokorny's root ⟨*plāk-⟩ “broad, flat”.^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Cato,^(Köbler 2010) and Cato uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a kind of flat cake: Wiktionary describes it as round, with a ribbed base, a domed top and a filling of honey and cheese.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Horace, Juvenal and Martial mention it, and in the Vulgate it is a cake made as an offering.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Church Latin glosses it cake.^(Stelten 1995) In the 16th century the Italian anatomist Realdo Colombo called the organ that joins the foetus to the womb ''placenta uterīna'', the uterine cake, and New Latin ''placenta'' came into English in the 1690s.^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato of the cake.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace mentions it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of a cake made as an offering.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1690s – English ''placenta'' for the organ.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A flat [[m|en|cake]], especially one with a honey and cheese filling.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(New Latin, anatomy)'' The [[m|en|placenta]].^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[placentarius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|placenta]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}