Etymograph

English

spleen

Spleen comes from Latin splēn ‘milt’, and goes back to Ancient Greek σπλήν ‘the spleen’.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσπλήνsplḗn‘the spleen’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsplēn‘milt’
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400espleen
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500splene
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1593spleen

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσπλήνsplḗn‘the spleen’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsplēn‘milt’
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400espleen
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500splene
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1593spleen

Earliest quotation: 1593, William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis: “A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways. Brief…”

The story

Partially displaced the native English term milt.

Every English word from Ancient Greek σπλήν

Today it means

noun In vertebrates, including humans, a ductless vascular gland, located in the upper left abdomen near the stomach, which destroys old red blood cells, removes debris from the bloodstream, acts as a reservoir of blood, and produces lymphocytes.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek σπλήν / spleen

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