visceral

Etymology

From Middle French viscéral (modern French viscéral), or from its etymon Medieval Latin viscerālis (“internal”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Viscerālis is derived from Latin viscera (a plural form of vīscus (“internal organ of the body”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *weys- (“to rotate, turn”)) + -ālis (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). cognates * Old French visceral (Middle French viscéral, modern French viscéral) * Italian viscerale * Spanish visceral

adj

1. (anatomy) Of or relating to, made up of, or positioned among or within, the viscera (“internal organs of the body, especially those contained within the abdominal and thoracic cavities”).
   1. (pathology) Of a disease: involving the viscera.
   2. Of or relating to the viscera or bowels regarded as the origin of a person's emotions; hence (figurative), relating to or having deep internal feelings or sensibility.
      Love is of all other the inmoſt and moſt viſcerall affection. And therefore called by the Apoſtle, Bovvels of Love. And vve read of the yearning of Ioſephs bovvels over Benjamin his mothers ſonne, […] 1640, Edward Reynolds, “Of the Effects of Love, Union to the Object, Stay and Immoration of the Mind upon It, Rest in It, Zeale, Strength, and Tendernesse towards It, Condescention unto It, Liquefaction and Languishing for It”, in A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soule of Man.[…], London: […] R[ichard] H[earne and John Norton] for Robert Bostock,[…], →OCLC, page 109
2. (figurative)
   1. Having to do with the response of the body as opposed to the intellect, as in the distinction between feeling and thinking.
      Television and other "electric media" are oral-auditory, tactile, visceral, and involve the individual almost without volition. As a result [Marshall] McLuhan believes that the world is rapidly becoming a "global village," in which mankind communicates in a supermodern version of the way tribal societies were once related. 3 July 1964, “Books: Blowing Hot & Cold: Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan. 359 pages. McGraw-Hill. $7.50. [book review]”, in Roy Alexander, editor, Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., archived from the original on 2011-06-19
   2. (obsolete) (Apparently) situated in the viscera or the interior of the body.