καυστικός

Forms

καυστῐκός (kaustikós) m (feminine καυστῐκή, neuter καυστῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek καυστός (kaustós, “burnt, combustible”) + -ικός (-ikós).^[1][2] Καυστός is the verbal adjective of καίω (kaíō, “to burn”).^[3][4] Beekes traces the verb to a root καυ- (kau-), and tentatively to Proto-Indo-European *keh₂u- (“to burn”), with cognates only in Baltic, such as Lithuanian kū̃lės “smut of grain”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first examples are Hippocratic: the Prorrhetic calls feverish patients by this name, and the Epidemics uses the neuter plural for inflammatory humours.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle gave the word its usual meaning, “capable of burning”, contrasting it with καυστός “capable of being burnt”: what is burnable is not burnt without what burns.^[6][2] In medicine and pharmacology, in Dioscorides and Galen, it meant corrosive, caustic, of drugs that burn the tissue.^[6][2] Fourth Maccabees uses it of torture by fire.^[6][8]

Medieval vernacular texts kept it for what burns and for a cauterising herb or drug.^[9] Modern Greek καυστικός (kafstikós) is a learned word: its chemical sense, of corrosive alkalis, follows French caustique, from Latin causticus, and it is also used figuratively of biting, sarcastic criticism.^[10][11] English caustic came through Latin causticus about 1400, and gained the sense “sarcastic” in 1771.^[4]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Hippocratic writing uses it of feverish patients and inflammatory humours.^[6][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle defines it as what is capable of burning.^[6][12]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses it of corrosive drugs.^[6][12]
• 2nd century AD – Galen writes of caustic drugs.^[6][12]
• About 1400 – English borrows it, through Latin, as caustic.^[4]
• 1771 – The figurative English sense “sarcastic” is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Capable of burning.^[6][2]
2. Corrosive, caustic.^[6][2]
3. Done by means of burning: torture by fire.^[6][8]
4. (medicine) Of persons, feverish; τὰ καυστικά, inflammatory humours.^[6][2]

Related words

• καυστός (kaustós)
• καίω (kaíō)
• Latin causticus
• English caustic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge