edema

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English idema, also ydema,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Medieval Latin ydemea,^[2] which is from Ancient Greek οἴδημα (oídēma, “a swelling, tumour”),^[1][3][4][5] from οἰδέω (oidéō, “to swell”).^[1][3][5] The modern spelling follows New Latin oedēma.^[6][7] Etymonline and Barnhart derive the Greek verb from a noun meaning swelling and trace it to Proto-Indo-European *oid- (“to swell”),^[5][4] the source also of Latin aemidus (“swollen”), Old Norse eitr (“pus”), Old High German eiz (“pustule, boil”), eitar (“poison”) (now German Eiter (“pus”)) and Old English attor (“poison”).^[5][4] Etymonline adds that it is the first element of the name Oedipus.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A swelling filled with phlegmatic humours, or a disease marked by such swellings: probably before 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's surgery.^[2][4] Etymonline and the 1989 edition of the OED date it to about 1400.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English word named a swelling filled with phlegmatic humours.^[2][5] The modern sense is an excessive build-up of watery fluid in the tissues or in a body cavity;^[5][7][9] the 1989 edition of the OED likened it to a local dropsy, and the Shorter Oxford still gives dropsy as a synonym.^[8][10] Collins records a further sense in plant pathology, a swelling in a plant caused by excess water or tissue.^[11] Hoad and Collins date the form oedema to the 16th century,^[12][11] and Dictionary.com to 1490–1500.^[6]

Timeline

• probably before 1425 – idema, ydema, a swelling filled with phlegmatic humours.^[2][4] Etymonline and the 1989 edition of the OED give about 1400.^[5][8]
• 16th century – the spelling oedema.^[12][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. An abnormal build-up of serous fluid in the tissues or in a body cavity, causing swelling: The patient's ankles showed signs of edema.^[7][11][9]
2. (plant pathology) A swelling in a plant caused by an excess of water or of parenchyma in its tissues.^[11]

Word family

• edematous
• myxedema

Usage notes

Edema is the usual American spelling, and British English uses oedema.^[11][7] The plural is edemas or edemata.^[7][11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press