coma

Forms

coma m (plural comas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κῶμα (kôma, “deep sleep”), a word used in medicine since Hippocrates for a lethargic state, which passed into the medical vocabulary of Europe.^[2][3][4][5] The Grand Robert thinks it probably came through New Latin coma, the medical Latin word, and Wiktionary also takes it from Latin.^[6][1] The origin of the Greek word is obscure: comparisons, such as with κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie down”), remain hypotheses.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1658 in the collected works of the surgeon F. Thévenin, as a medical term.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Littré still defined it as a drowsiness into which the patient falls back as soon as he is no longer stimulated.^[8] With the progress of neurophysiology it took on a more precise sense and formed set phrases such as coma profond and être dans le coma.^[3] Coma dépassé, the deepest coma, in which survival depends only on artificial means, is the subject of an official recommendation of the Académie de médecine.^[9]

Timeline

• 1616 – The adjective comateux appears, before the noun.^[3][4]
• 1658 – Coma is first recorded, in Thévenin.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) A coma: a loss of consciousness, sensation and voluntary movement, with the vital functions partly kept: tomber dans le coma, coma diabétique.^[9][2]
2. Coma dépassé: an irreversible coma in which life is kept up only by artificial means.^[9]

Word family

• comateux

Related words

• Ancient Greek κῶμα (kôma)

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a separate, feminine coma in optics, an aberration that gives a plume-shaped image of objects off the axis, recorded before 1953 and taken from the English word coma, which also names the hazy envelope round a comet's nucleus, ultimately from Latin coma “hair”.^[6] The Petit Robert notes the homophone comma.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 936a
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert