combining form, on Greek models, of L. viscera VISCERA, employed in anatomical terms, as viscero-branchial, -pericardial, -pleural [etc.], adjs. Also visceroptosis Path. (see quot. 1897).
The more correct combining form visceri- is given in some dictionaries, as viscericardial, etc.
1883. E. R. Lankester, in Encycl. Brit., XVI, 667/1. The pericardium is extended so as to form a very large sac passing among the viscera dorsal wards … the viscero-pericardial sac. Ibid., 679/2. The visceral nerves of the viscero-pleural ganglion-pair.
1888. Howes & Scott, Huxley & Martin’s Biol., i. 108. Viscero-motor nerves; seen to arise from both sympathetic and lumbo-sacral plexus for distribution to the pelvic viscera.
1888. W. Herdman, in Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 613/1. A third great sinus, the viscero-branchial vessel.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 587. The names enteroptosis or visceroptosis have been applied to cases in which various abdominal organs have become displaced from their normal positions.
1905. H. D. Rolleston, Dis. Liver, 11. In other cases the symptoms are due to visceroptosis.
