Variously Heavy Women:Latin Phrases (and Words) Used to Describe Pregnant Women

Note that the following terms are also presented and discussed in Chapter 19 of Stiles & Russell, Anatomy of Medical Terminology: Advanced Concepts (Radix Antiqua, 2018).

Two formulaic phrases (often abbreviated to single words) are regularly used. Many of the linguistic considerations involved are discussed in terms of one of these in this blogpost; the second (and two related formulations) will be discussed in the next post.

Note that in the algebraic formulae below, "x-" stands for either a number or a numerical adjective (for a full list, see my Advanced Medical Terminology, Chapter 19; a version of this list will be included for reference at the end of the next post).

• (femina) x-i-gravid-a = a woman pregnant for the xth time

In the real world, this basic Latin phrase will almost never be fully written out; rather, you will see it in one of two abbreviated forms, as the following examples show:

• septigravida (= septi-gravid-a) or gravida VII = a woman pregnant for the seventh time
• octigravida (= octi-gravid-a) or gravida VIII = a woman pregnant for the eighth time

Linguistically, Latin gravid-a is the feminine form of an adjective meaning "heavy," required by the Rules or Principles of Agreement (see Anatomy of Medical Terminology chapter 6 and passim) because the Latin noun femin-a is (of course) a noun of the feminine gender. This adjective is the root of many English derivatives like grave ("heavy" or "serious"), grav-ity ("heavy-ness"), and of course, grav-id ("heavy;" a euphemism for "pregnant," as in "she is heavy with child").

Although the standard form of the numerical abbreviation has always featured the Roman numeral in second position, it is likely that contemporary usage (not yet attested in Dorland's) will sometimes show the number in first position as an alternative designation (the standard examples of the parallel phrase discussed in the following post already feature this reversal); in addition, Arabic numerals are beginning to replace the traditional Roman ones in many "sets" of phrases in Medical Terminology. Hypothetical examples (marked with an asterisk) of our phrase follow:

• *VI gravida (= sexti-gravid-a) = *gravida 6, or *6 gravida = a woman pregnant for the sixth time

As a careful reader will have noted, the formulaic translation "x-th" sometimes needs to be adjusted to suit a particular numeric prefix (thus, for example, eighth, not *eight-th).

Finally, because many numeric and quantitative prefixes have alternate forms in common usage in other areas of Medical Terminology, it is likely that a few other synonymous words or phrases might occur. The following list of examples, both attested and plausible, is meant to be a fairly complete assemblage of the descriptive terms which might be found to designate a woman in her first pregnancy:

• primigravida (= "prime"-gravid-a) = gravida I a woman pregnant for the first time

      = *unigravida (= uni-gravid-a; L uni- = one)
      = *monogravida (= mono-gravid-a; G mono- one)
      = *I gravida = *1 gravida or *gravida = *G 1

NOTES re the forms not yet attested in Dorland's (some or all of which might turn up already on google searches....):

• *uni-gravida can be predicted from closely related uniparous ("bearing one offspring;" see AMT and the following blogpost)
• *mono-gravida (containing G mono- = one; widely used in Medical

Terminology and elsewhere in English, as in mono-gamy, etc.) reflects the fact the "rule" forbidding "bastard terms" (part Greek, part Latin) has long fallen into disuse (see other blogs, and the textbook Introductions)

• *I gravida, by reversing the order of standard gravida I, reflects a tendency (discussed in the textbooks and other blogs) to "rationalize" Latin word order by adapting it to the English standard of Adjective + Noun; this long ago resulted in the generation of a parallel standard form in the case of closely related x-i-para (discussed in the next post), which is abbreviated in either of two forms;
• thus both X para and para X (= deci-para) name "a woman who has borne 10 offspring."
• *gravida 1 (with *1 gravida) reflects the increasing disuse of Roman Numerals in English
• *G 1 reflects a very recent and rapidly accelerating tendency to use abbreviations instead of whole words (let alone phrases); this tendency is at least partly the result of a general loss of understanding of word-meanings on the part of medical people (see the advanced textbook, the forthcoming seminar course at USASK, and several forthcoming blog posts).

In all these matters, you may find the following midwifery textbooks useful:

• Physical Assessment of the Well Woman & Newborn
• Pharmacology Revealed
• Comprehensive Midwifery Vol. 1: Professional Roles
• Comprehensive Midwifery Vol. 2: Normal Pregnancy, Birth, Postpartum & Newborn Care
• Comprehensive Midwifery Vol. 3: Management of Complications

On questions of Medical Terminology, make sure to consult: Stiles Medical Terminology