viscus
English edit
Etymology edit
From Latin viscus (“any internal organ of the body”), perhaps akin to viscid.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
viscus (plural viscera)
- (anatomy) One of the organs, as the brain, heart, or stomach, in the great cavities of the body of an animal; especially used in the plural, and applied to the organs contained in the abdomen.
- (anatomy, specifically) The intestines.
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
organ in the abdomen
See also edit
References edit
- “viscus”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “viscus”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “viscus”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Latin edit
Etymology edit
Of unclear origin;[1] possibly Proto-Indo-European *weys- (“to turn, rotate”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈu̯iːs.kus/, [ˈu̯iːs̠kʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈvis.kus/, [ˈviskus]
- The long ī in the first syllable (given by Gaffiot (1934) and De Vaan (2008)) is supported per Ernout and Meillet by the use of i longa in inscriptions.[2]
Noun edit
vīscus n (genitive vīsceris); third declension (chiefly plural)
- Any internal organ of the body.
- (anatomy) entrails, viscera, bowels, internal organs
- Synonyms: intestīnum, interāneum, exta, prōsicium, prōsecta, hīllae
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.180–182:
- terra fabās tantum dūraque farra dabat.
quae duo mixta simul sextīs quīcumque Kalendīs
ēderit, huic laedī vīscera posse negant.- The land yielded only beans and hard far. Whoever, on the Kalends of the sixth [months], eats these two [foods] mixed together, they say no harm will [come] to this [person’s] bowels.
(The first day of June was the Kalendae fabariae or Bean-Kalends.)
- The land yielded only beans and hard far. Whoever, on the Kalends of the sixth [months], eats these two [foods] mixed together, they say no harm will [come] to this [person’s] bowels.
- terra fabās tantum dūraque farra dabat.
Declension edit
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | vīscus | vīscera |
| Genitive | vīsceris | vīscerum |
| Dative | vīscerī | vīsceribus |
| Accusative | vīscus | vīscera |
| Ablative | vīscere | vīsceribus |
| Vocative | vīscus | vīscera |
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
References edit
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
- ^ Ernout, Alfred, Meillet, Antoine (1985) “uīscus, -eris”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots[2] (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections of Jacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published 2001, page 741
Further reading edit
- “viscus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “viscus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- viscus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN