Etymology Dictionary

ULCER,  a dangerous sore.  (F.,—L.)   In Hamlet, iv. 7. 124.—F. ulcere (Cot.), mod. F. ulcère, 'an ulcer, a raw scab.'—Lat. ulcer-, stem of ulcus, a sore; cf. Span. and Ital. ulcera, an ulcer. + Gk. ἕλκος, a wound, sore, abscess.   β. The orig. sense is prob. 'a laceration;' the Gk. έλκ-, Lat. ulc-, can only come from a common base WALK, meaning 'to tear,' whence Lith. wilkas, a wolf, Skt. vrika, E. wolf.—✔WARK, to tear; cf. Skt. vraçch, to tear, cut, wound, Lat. lacerare, to lacerate, Gk. λακίς, a rent.   See Wolf and Lacerate.   Der. ulcerat-ion, from F. ulceration, 'an ulceration,' Cot., from Lat. acc. ulcerationem; ulcer-ate, from Lat. ulceratus, pp. of ulcerare, to make sore; ulcer-ous, Hamlet, iii. 4. 147, from Lat. adj. ulcerosus, full of sores.