sesamoides

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σησᾰμοειδής (sēsamoeidḗs, “sesame-shaped”) (neuter σησαμοειδές (sēsamoeidés)), from σήσᾰμον (sḗsamon, “sesame”) + -ειδής (-eidḗs, “shaped”).

Pronunciation

• sēsamoīdēs: (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /seː.sa.moˈiː.deːs/, [s̠eːs̠ämoˈiːd̪eːs̠]
• sēsamoīdēs: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /se.sa.moˈi.des/, [ses̬ämoˈiːd̪es]
• sēsamoīdes: (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /seː.sa.moˈiː.des/, [s̠eːs̠ämoˈiːd̪ɛs̠]
• sēsamoīdes: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /se.sa.moˈi.des/, [ses̬ämoˈiːd̪es]

Adjective

sēsamoīdēs (genitive sēsamoīdis); third-declension one-termination adjective

1. (anatomy) sesamoid

   Synonyms: sēsaminus, sēsamoīdeus

   • c. 1671-1695, Antoine Goudin, “Append. De Anim. Art. IV. De Partibus Corporis”, in Philosophia thomistica: iuxta inconcussa, tutissimaque divi Thomae ..., Volume 3, Index titulorum: tomi tertii, et quarti: et primum tomi tertii. Tertia pars physicae. De ente Generabili. Disputatio unica., page 205:

     Carpus constituitur ex ossibus octo; Metacarpus ex quatuor; Digiti ex quindecima [sic.] quibus ossicula Sesamoida, sic dicta à Sesami figura, in internodiis implicantur. [...] Ossa Tharsi sunt septem; Metatharsi quinque; Digitorum quatuordecim : quibus, ut in manu, sua ossa Sesamoida in internodiis implicantur.

     The carpus consists of eight bones; the metacarpus of four; the fingers of fifteenth [typo for quindecim 'fifteen'] of which the sesamoid ossicles, so called after the shape of sesame, are enveloped in the joints. [...] The bones of the tarsus are seven; of the metatarsus five; of the toes fourteen; of which, as in the hand, their sesamoid bones are enveloped in the joints.

   • 1697, Joannis Munnics, De re anatomica, quoted in On the Sesamoids of the Knee-Joint, Monographie über die aus wahren (hyalinischen) Cartilagines praeformirten Ossicula Sesamoidea...:

     In censu quoque ossiculorum sesamoidum poni debent duo, quae in poplite inferioribus femoris appendicibus apponuntur, duorum priorum pedem moventium musculorum principiis inhaerent.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Third-declension one-termination adjective (Greek-type).

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	sēsamoīdēs	sēsamoīdes1 sēsamoīdēs		sēsamoīdēs	sēsamoīda sēsamoīdia2
genitive	sēsamoīdis			sēsamoīdum sēsamoīdium2
dative	sēsamoīdī			sēsamoīdibus
accusative	sēsamoīdem	sēsamoīdes1 sēsamoīdēs		sēsamoīdēs	sēsamoīda sēsamoīdia2
ablative	sēsamoīde sēsamoīdī2			sēsamoīdibus
vocative	sēsamoīdes1 sēsamoīdēs			sēsamoīdēs	sēsamoīda sēsamoīdia2

¹It is unknown if Classical Latin preserved (or would have preserved) the shortness of the original Greek short ending.
²It is unknown whether adjectives of this type would use i-stem or consonant-stem endings in Classical Latin: the relevant forms are not attested. Depending on the word, either ending or both may be attested in New Latin.

Descendants

• → English: sesamoid (learned)
• → French: sésamoïde (learned)
• → Italian: sesamoide (learned)
• → Portuguese: sesamoide (learned)

Noun

sēsamoīdes n (genitive sēsamoīdis); third declension

1. a name given to various plants resembling sesame
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 22.133:

     sesamoides a similitudine nomen accepit, grano amaro, folio minore. nascitur in glareosis. detrahit bilem in aqua potum semen, inlinitur igni sacro, discutit panos. est etiamnum aliud sesamoides, Anticyrae nascens, quod ideo aliqui Anticyricon vocant, cetera simile erigeronti herbae, de qua dicemus suo loco, grano sesamae, datur in vino dulci ad detractiones quantum tribus digitis capitur.

     • 1951 translation by W. H. S. Jones

       Sesamoïdes has received its name from its likeness to sesame; it has a smaller leaf, and the grain is bitter. It grows on gravelly soils. Taken in water, it carries away bile. The seed is used as an application for erysipelas, and it disperses superficial abscesses. There is also another sesamoïdes, which grows at Anticyra, and is therefore called by some Anticyricon. It has the seed of sesame, but in other respects is like the plant erigeron, about which I shall speak in the proper place. A three-finger pinch is given in sweet wine as a purge.

   • 1583, Rembert Dodoens, Remberti Dodonaei Mechliniensis Medici Caesarei stirpivm historiae pemptades sex. sive libri xxx., Antwerp: Christophe Plantin, page 384:

     De Sesamoide ex Dioscoride et aliis. Cap. XXXI.
     
     Incidimus in Sesamoidum mentionem: Veratro potentia ac viribus proxima sunt, et ex purgantium numero: oportunum idcirco eorum historias ex Dioscoride et aliis hîc repetere. Duo autem ea sunt: Vnum magnum: alterum paruum.
     In magni autẽ Sesamoidis descriptione inter Veteres non satis cõuenit. Plinius lib.XXII. cap.XXV. ἠριγέροντι, id est, Senetioni similem herbam scribit: Oribasius ex Rasarij quidem conuersione, Rutae similiorem facit. Sesamoides, inquit, maius folia habet Rutę similia, longa: florem album: radicem gracilem, ignauam: semen Sesamo simile, gustu amarum.
     Dioscoridis verò exemplaria vtrique herbae Sesamoides istud comparant. ἔοικεν ἡ πόα, ait, ἠριγέροντι ἢ πηγάνῳ, φύλλα μακρὰ ἀνθος λουκὸν, ῥίζα ἰχνὴ ἄπρακτος, σπέρμα ὅμοιον σησάμῳ, πικρὸν ἐν τῆ γεύσει, id est Similis est herba Senetioni aut Rutae: folia longa: flos albus: radix gracilis, inefficax: semen simile sesamo, amarum in gustu.
     Siue autem Dioscorides, siue alius huius descriptionis auctor extiterit, oculata fide Sesamoides magnum non agnouisse videtur; sed ex aliorum scriptis tantummodo descriptionem eius collegisse: atque idcirco disiunctiua particula ἢ vsus. ignorans videlicet cui simile Sesamoides magnum esset: Senetioni ne an Rutae. Vtrique autem simile esse, vix possibile. Sunt etenim dissimiles multum Senetio et Ruta, qualiscunque etiam ea sit, siue graueolens, siue altera Hyperico similis.
     Recentiores, inter quos Io. Ruellius et nonnulli post eum, Sesamoides magnũ existimant, quod à Theophrasto Veratrum nigrum describitur. Cognominat enim ipsum Sesamaceum siue Σησαμοειδές: Anticyrenses, inquit, fructum Sesamacei Veratri dare solent. Accedit Dioscorides, qui Sesamoides magnũ apud Anticyrenses Veratrũ (si modò genuina lectio) vocari refert: et Galen in lib.De simplic.med.facult.vbi Sesamoides magnũ Anticyricũ Veratrum esse scribit.
     Anticyrense siquidem Veratrum est, cuius Theophrastus meminit, et de quo cap.XXVII. Sed istud neque Senetioni, neque Rutae simile est; et non modò semine, sed et radice efficax est. Sesamoidis autem radix ἄπρακτος, hoc est, ignaua, et nullius vsus. Crediderim ego nondum repertum Sesamoides, et propter eam quam ostendimus difficultatem, non facilè agnoscendum.
     Dicitur autem σησαμοειδές, vt Dioscoridis et posteriorum exemplaria habent, in Anticyra ἑλλέβορον. Causa additur, quoniã Veratro albo, in purgationibus misceatur. At propter hanc causam fortasse rectius ἑλλεβορίνη nuncupatur. Nam Helleborines semen Theophrastus ait purgationi ex Veratro misceri, quod haud aliud quàm ipsius Sesamoidis esse verisimillimum est. Hippocrates enim, Strabo et Dioscorides non aliud admisceri scribũt quàm Sesamoidis semẽ. In φοκικῇ, ait Strabo, nascitur σησαμοειδές, cui permixtũ praeparãt Oetaeũ Helleborum.
     A Sesami autem forma et similitudine Sesamoides nomen, vt Plinius ait, accepit.
     In abstergendo, excalfaciendo, desiccandoque similem Veratro vim, Galeno auctore, obtinct. Purgat pituitam et bilem supernè, Dioscorides refert, quantum tribus digitis capi potest, tritum, acceptum cum Veratri albi sesquiobolo, in aqua mulsa.
     Eadem de hoc ferè Hippocrates sub finem lib. De victus ratione in morbis acutis, at tamen non cum aqua mulsa, sed cum aceto mulso siue oxymelite exhibet. Sesamoides, ait, sursum purgat: potio eius est drachma media in aceto mulio trita: commiscetur etiam Veratris tertia portionis pars, et minus suffocat.
     
     De Sesamoide paruo, ex Dioscoride et aliis. Cap. XXXII.
     
     Sesamoidi paruo, vt Dioscorides habet, dodrantales sunt coliculi, folia habentes Coronopo similia, hirsutiora tamen ac minora: in summo cauliculorum capitula sunt florum subpurpureorum, quorum medium album; in quibus semen Sesamo simile, amarum et κίῤῥον siue russum: radix tenuis. nascitur locis asperis.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “sesamoides”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• sesamoides in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.