φλέγμα

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /pʰléŋ.ma/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈɸleɣ.ma/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈfleɣ.ma/^[1]

Forms

φλέγμᾰ (phlégma) n (genitive φλέγμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek φλέγω (phlégō, “to burn, inflame”) + -μα (-ma).^[1][2][3] How the sense passed from “flame, inflammation” to “slime, phlegm” is unexplained.^[2]

φλέγω (phlégō) continues Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”).^[2][4] Its nearest relatives are Latin fulgō (“to flash, shine”), flagrō (“to blaze”) and flamma (“flame”), and the Tocharian verb pälk- “to shine, burn”.^[2][5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it once, for a flame or blaze, in the Iliad.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

In medicine it first meant inflammation and heat, in the Hippocratic writers and Galen.^[3] It then became phlegm, one of the four humours of the body: Herodotus mentions it, the Hippocratic Nature of Man counts it among the humours, Plato's Timaeus makes acid and salty phlegm the source of all catarrhal diseases, and Aristotle contrasts hot bile with cold phlegm.^[3][7] Prodicus of Ceos explained the name as what is burnt and overcooked in the humours.^[8] “White phlegm” was a kind of dropsy.^[3] In poetry it could mean an angry humour, as “the savage phlegm of Archilochus”.^[3][9]

Latin borrowed the medical word, and through it French and English: English phlegm is recorded from the late 14th century.^[9][10] Modern Greek φλέγμα (flégma) is mucus and, after English phlegm, coolness and composure.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for a blaze.^[6][3]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus mentions phlegm.^[3][12]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers count it among the humours.^[3][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato makes phlegm the source of catarrhal diseases.^[3][12]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle calls bile hot and phlegm cold.^[3][12]
• Late 14th century – English phlegm is first recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flame, fire, heat.^[3][7]
2. (medicine) inflammation.^[3][7]
3. phlegm, one of the four humours of the body.^[3][7]
4. λευκὸν φλέγμα, a kind of dropsy.^[3]
5. (poetic) An angry humour.^[3]

Word family

• φλεγματικός (phlegmatikós)
• φλεγμαίνω (phlegmaínō)
• φλεγμονή (phlegmonḗ)

Related words

• φλέγω (phlégō)
• φλόξ (phlóx)
• English phlegm

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
5. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
9. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge