artery

artery
\ \ [14] Artery is a direct borrowing from Latin artēria, which in turn came from Greek artēria. This appears to have been based on the root *ar- ‘lift’. A parallel formation is thus aortamain coronary artery’ [16], which comes from Greek aortē, a derivative of aeíreinlift’ – again ultimately from the root *ar-. The notion underlying aortē seems to be that the heart was thought of by the ancients as in some sense suspended from it, as if from a strap (Greek aortésstrap’), so that it was ‘held up’ or ‘raised’ by the aortē (the aorta emerges from the top of the heart). The Greeks, of course, did not know about the circulation of the blood, and since arteries contain no blood after death it was supposed that their function was conveying air.
\ \ Hence Hippocrates’ application of the term aorta to branches of the windpipe, and the use of artery for ‘windpipe’ in English up until as late as the mid 17th century: ‘[The lungs] expel the air: which through the artery, throat and mouth, makes the voice’, Francis Bacon, Sylva sylvarum 1626.
\ \ Cf.AORTA

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Artery — Ar ter*y, n.; pl. {Arteries}. [L. arteria windpipe, artery, Gr. ?.] 1. The trachea or windpipe. [Obs.] Under the artery, or windpipe, is the mouth of the stomach. Holland. [1913 Webster] 2. (Anat.) One of the vessels or tubes which carry either… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • artery — (n.) late 14c., from Anglo Fr. arterie, O.Fr. artaire (13c.; Mod.Fr. artère), and directly from L. arteria, from Gk. arteria windpipe, also an artery, as distinct from a vein; related to aeirein to raise (see AORTA (Cf. aorta)). They were… …   Etymology dictionary

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  • artery — [ärt′ər ē] n. pl. arteries [ME arterie < L arteria, windpipe, artery < Gr artēria, prob. < aeirein, to lift, take up] 1. any one of the system of thick walled blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart: cf. VEIN, CAPILLARY 2. a… …   English World dictionary

  • artery — index causeway, conduit (channel), way (channel) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • artery — route, course, *way, passage, pass …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • artery — [n] channel avenue, boulevard, canal, conduit, corridor, course, duct, highway, line, passage, pathway, road, route, sewer, thoroughfare, track, tube, way; concept 501 …   New thesaurus

  • artery — ► NOUN (pl. arteries) 1) any of the muscular walled tubes through which blood flows from the heart around the body. 2) an important route in a transport system. DERIVATIVES arterial adjective. ORIGIN Greek art ria …   English terms dictionary

  • artery — /ahr teuh ree/, n., pl. arteries. 1. Anat. a blood vessel that conveys blood from the heart to any part of the body. 2. a main channel or highway, esp. of a connected system with many branches. [1350 1400; ME < L arteria < Gk: windpipe, artery.… …   Universalium

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