Anterior cruciate ligament
Ligamentum cruciatum anterius
Definition
The cruciate ligaments are of considerable strength, situated in the middle of the joint, nearer to its posterior than to its anterior surface. They are called cruciate because they cross each other somewhat like the lines of the letter X; and have received the names anterior and posterior, from the position of their attachments to the tibia.
The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ligamentum cruciatum anterius; external crucial ligament) is attached to the depression in front of the intercondyloid eminence of the tibia, being blended with the anterior extremity of the lateral meniscus; it passes upward, backward, and lateralward, and is fixed into the medial and back part of the lateral condyle of the femur.
This definition incorporates text from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy (20th U.S. edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, published in 1918 – from http://www.bartleby.com/107/).
