κλινικός

Forms

κλῑνῐκός (klīnikós) m (feminine κλῑνῐκή, neuter κλῑνῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek κλίνη (klínē, “bed, couch”) + -ικός (-ikós), “of the bed”.^[1][2][3] The noun κλίνη is from Ancient Greek κλίνω (klínō, “to lean, incline”), from a suffixed form of the root Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to lean”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is an epigram of Nicarchus in the Greek Anthology, where κλινικός is a doctor who visits his patients in their beds.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it was the bedside physician, and the feminine κλινική (understood τέχνη) his art.^[2][3] Pliny the Elder uses the word in Latin, and Latin clinicus comes from it.^[2][3][5] Galen cites a work by Damocrates with this title.^[2] The Latin poet Ausonius has it as an adjective, “bedridden”.^[2]

Through Latin and French clinique it gave English clinic, first (1620s) a bedridden person, later a teaching hospital and a private hospital.^[4] Modern Greek κλινικός (klinikós) owes its modern senses to French clinique, and the noun κλινική (klinikí) “clinic” is a loan-translation of French clinique or English clinic.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Nicarchus and Lucillius, in epigrams of the Greek Anthology, use it for a physician who visits the bedridden.^[2][8][9]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it, and cites a work titled Klinikos by Damocrates.^[2][10][9]
• 1620s – English clinic is first recorded, through French and Latin.^[4]
• Modern Greek – κλινικός (klinikós) takes new senses from French clinique.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for a bed.^[2][1]
2. Bedridden.^[2][8]

Noun

1. A physician who visits his patients in their beds.^[2][11][3]
2. (feminine, ἡ κλινική) The art or practice of such a physician, care of the sick in bed.^[2][3]

Related words

• κλίνη (klínē)
• κλίνω (klínō)
• Latin clinicus
• English clinic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press