late 14c., "an arterial blood vessel," from Anglo-French arterie, Old French artaire (13c.; Modern French artère), and directly from Latin arteria, from Greek arteria "windpipe," also "an artery," as distinct from a vein; related to aeirein "to raise" (see aorta).
They were regarded by the ancients as air ducts because the arteries do not contain blood after death, and 14c.-16c. artery in English also could mean "trachea, windpipe." Medieval writers, based on Galen, generally took them as a separate blood system for the "vital spirits." The word is used in reference to artery-like systems of major rivers from 1805; of railways from 1844.
"bent like a bow," 1620s, from Latin arcuatus "bow-like, arched," past participle of arcuare "to bend like a bow," from arcus "a bow" (see arc (n.)). Related: Arcuration.
early 15c., "of or pertaining to an artery," from French artérial (Modern French artériel), from Latin arteria "an artery; the windpipe" (see artery). The meaning "resembling an artery system, having a main channel and many branches" is from 1831.
"small artery," by 1808, from Modern Latin arteriola, diminutive of arteria "an artery" (see artery).
late 14c., from Medieval Latin trachea (13c.), as in trachea arteria, from Late Latin trachia, from Greek trakheia, in trakheia arteria "windpipe," literally "rough artery" (so called from the rings of cartilage that form the trachea), from fem. of trakhys "rough," from PIE *dhre-gh-, suffixed form of root *dher- (1). See artery for connection with windpipe in Greek science. Related: Tracheal.
c. 1600, "suitable for garlands;" 1640s, "pertaining to a crown, resembling a crown," both older senses now obsolete; from Latin coronarius "of or belonging to a wreath, presenting a garland-like grownth," from corona "wreath, crown" (see crown (n.)).
Anatomical use is from 1670s in reference to the blood vessels that supply the muscular substance of the heart and surround it like a crown. Coronary artery is recorded from 1741. As a noun meaning "a blockage of the flow of blood to the heart caused by a clot in a coronary artery," it dates from 1955, short for coronary thrombosis.
"returning from time to time, reappearing, repeated," 1660s, from French recurrent (16c.) and directly from Latin recurrentem (nominative recurrens), present participle of recurrere "run back, hasten back, return" (see recur). From 1590s as a noun ("recurrent artery or nerve," one turned back on itself).
"a turning aside," 1838, in railway use, from shunt (v.). It was used by technicians in the sense of "circuit introduced to diminish the current through the main circuit" by 1863. Medical use, "natural or artificial route from a vein to an artery," is by 1923. In Middle English it meant "a sudden jerk or swerve" (late 14c.).
1859, name of a method (developed by J.Y. Simpson) of stopping surgical bleeding by pinning or wiring the artery shut, from Latin acus "a needle" (from PIE root *ak- "be sharp, rise (out) to a point, pierce") + pressure (n.). From 1958 in reference to the oriental body therapy also known as shiatsu (said to mean literally "finger-pressure" in Japanese).
