ischemia

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin ischaemia,^{[2][3][4][5][1]} from ischaemus (“stopping blood, styptic”),^[3][4][5] from Ancient Greek ἴσχαιμος (ískhaimos, “stanching blood”),^[4][2][5][1] which is formed from ἴσχω (ískhō, “to hold back, check”) and αἷμα (haîma, “blood”).^{[2][3][6][7][1]} Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary take the Greek verb from Proto-Indo-European *segh- (“to hold”), Etymonline as a reduplicated form,^[4][2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged relates it to Ancient Greek ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, hold”), the source of scheme.^[3] In English the ending is the combining form -emia, as in anemia.^[4][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1855,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1855–60;^[9] Etymonline gives 1866, with a form ischaimes as early as the 1660s.^[4] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English say that it first denoted the stanching of bleeding, in the late 19th century.^[6][10]

Semantic evolution

The Medical Latin adjective behind it meant "styptic", stopping a flow of blood,^[3] and the English noun at first named the stanching of bleeding.^[6][10] It came to mean only a local lack of blood, a deficient supply of blood to an organ or part of one,^[6] which Stedman's medical dictionary describes as caused by an obstruction of the blood vessel, mainly the narrowing or disruption of an artery.^[7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged names among its kinds cerebral, renal and myocardial ischemia.^[3]

Timeline

• 1855 – a local lack of blood supply to a part of the body.^[3][9] Etymonline dates the word to 1866.^[4]
• late 19th century – the stanching of bleeding, the first sense in the Oxford dictionaries.^[6][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. An inadequate supply of blood to an organ or part of the body, usually because an artery is narrowed or blocked: The scan showed ischemia in the lower bowel.^[8][3][7][1]
2. (obsolete) The stanching of bleeding.^[6][10]

Word family

• ischemic

Related words

• anemia
• scheme
• hematology

Usage notes

Ischemia is the American spelling,^[3][1] and British English writes ischaemia.^[3][8][6][1] The adjective is ischemic or ischaemic.^[8][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press