vesica Latin · revision 5848

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [weːˈsiː.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [veˈs̬iː.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vēsīca''' ''f'' (genitive vēsīcae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Etymonline) De Vaan follows André, who takes [[m|la|vēsīca]] as the original form, the spelling [[m|la|vēnsīca]] being a Vulgar Latin confusion of ⟨ēs⟩ and ⟨ēns⟩.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879) André compares [[vīsiō|alt=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”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The OLD compares [[sa|वस्ति|tr=vastí|t=bladder]] with a “perhaps”, and Watkins calls it perhaps a taboo deformation of the root *udero- “belly”.^(OLD 2012)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose parasite wants food to go into his belly, not his bladder.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In medicine it meant a blister or cyst, as Celsus' fatty swellings on the upper eyelids.^(OLD 2012) Manuscripts often spell it ''vensīca'' or ''vessīca''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it remained the anatomical word, glossed in Old English as “bladder”.^(DMLBS) [[en|vesica]] “a sac, the bladder” was taken into anatomy in the 1690s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus contrasts the bladder with the belly.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace compares a noise to a bursting bladder.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of blisters on the eyelids.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1690s – Borrowed into English anatomy as [[m|en|vesica]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|bladder]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # An animal's bladder used as a balloon, purse, cap or lantern.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|blister]], cyst, bladder-like swelling.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|vesicle]]

+ * [[en|vesica]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}