Correction of "Caesarean Section" in OED?

[Shapiro, Fred]

Perhaps Jesse can pass this information from the alt.usage.english FAQ on to the OED:

"The OED erroneously states that Julius Caesar was born by Caesarean section.  Merriam-Webster Editorial Department (on its AOL message board, in response to a query from me) writes:

   "The name 'Caesar' is a cognomen, a nickname given to one member of a Roman clan and borne by his descendants as a kind of surname.  No one knows who the original Caesar was, but his descendants within his clan, the Julii, continued to use his cognomen and formed a major branch of the clan.
   "According to a legend related by the Roman naturalist Pliny, the first Caesar was so called because he was cut from the womb of his mother (_a caeso matris utero_), _Caesar_ supposedly being a derivative of the verb _caedere_ 'to cut'.  This etymology is dubious, but the name 'Caesar' has continued to be associated with surgery to remove a child that cannot be delivered naturally.
   "The OED gives evidence for the belief that Julius Caesar, the most famous bearer of the cognomen, was delivered this way that dates from 1540.  There is no authority for this notion in ancient sources.  Moreover, Julius Caesar's mother lived long after his birth -- unlikely if she had undergone such an operation, which few women would have survived in those days.  In any case, the earliest record we have for the term 'cesarean section' used in English dates from 1615.  You can easily see from these dates why we say that the term came from the belief, and not, to throw in a little more Latin, vice versa."

Fred Shapiro

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