lithotome

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek λιθοτόμον (lithotómon, “instrument for cutting the bladder”), neuter of λιθοτόμος (lithotómos, “stone-cutting”), equivalent to litho- +‎ -tome.

Noun

lithotome (plural lithotomes)

1. (surgery, archaic) An instrument used for cutting the bladder to remove a calculus; a cystotome. [from 18th c.]
2. A mineral resembling a cut gem, formed that way by nature. [from 19th c.]
   • 1873, Foster Barham Zincke, Egypt of the Pharaohs and of the Khedivé, page 128:

     On the walls of these stupendous structures is written and sculptured the history, as well as the religion, of Egypt, from Osirtasen I., who reigned four thousand five hundred years ago, down to the Roman Augustus: these are the earliest and the latest names inscribed on the lithotomes of Karnak.

   • 1875, Thomas E. Thoresby, The Free Church of England Magazine, page 73:

     The marble books of Egypt, the lithotomes and chiselled pictures of Assyria, are stamped with the minutest details of life—of busy, active, cultivated life, that was powerful in its day, and wrought mighty changes, and achieved mighty conquests in the almost forgotten ages of the long, long past.

   • 1913, Anna Mooney Doling, Brilla, page 112:

     You know I'm something of a lithologist and I find the character and the science of the stones most interesting. I have seen some wonderful lithotomes about, too.

   • 1969, Edgar Dorsey Taylor, Baja California Woodcuts, page 49:

     High, polygonal rock columns present the appearance of giant, sculpted lithotomes, of being formed by man rather than by nature, but now in process of slow decay, with pillar, slope of talus and canyon giving refuge to fauna and rare flora in the interstices.

Related terms

• lithotomic
• lithotomist
• lithotomize
• lithotomy

References

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Lithotome”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VI, Part 1 (L), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 347, column 3.
• “lithotome”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French, from Ancient Greek λιθοτόμον (lithotómon), neuter of λιθοτόμος (lithotómos, “stone-cutting”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

lithotome m (plural lithotomes)

1. (surgery, archaic) lithotome

Further reading

• “lithotome”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.