χειρουργία

Forms

χειρουργῐ́ᾱ (kheirourgíā) f (genitive χειρουργῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek χειρουργέω (kheirourgéō, “to work with the hands”) + -ία (-íā, “abstract noun suffix”), from χειρουργός (kheirourgós, “working with the hands”), a compound of χείρ (kheír, “hand”) and ἔργον (érgon, “work”).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 5th century BC, in the Hippocratic writings, where it means surgery as opposed to treatment with drugs, and in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, of handiwork.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was work done by hand.^[4][5] Plato used it for the practice of a craft as opposed to theoretical knowledge, and for crafts in general.^[4][5][2] In medicine it meant surgery, a sense that the Hippocratic writings already have and that Diodorus, Dioscorides and Soranus continue.^[4][5]

Late Latin took it as chirurgia, the source through Old French of English surgery, first recorded around 1300.^[7][3] Modern Greek uses the learned χειρουργική (cheirourgikí) for the branch of medicine.^[8]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use it for surgical operations.^[4][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for handiwork in the Lysistrata.^[4][5][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato contrasts it with theoretical knowledge.^[4][5][9]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses it of surgery.^[4][9]
• About 1300 – English borrows surgery from Old French.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Work done with the hands, handiwork; the practice of a craft, as opposed to theory.^[4][5]
2. A handicraft or art.^[4][5]
3. (medicine) Surgery, a surgical operation.^[4][5]

Word family

• χειρουργικός (kheirourgikós)

Related words

• χειρουργός (kheirourgós)
• χειρουργέω (kheirourgéō)
• Latin chirurgia
• English surgery

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge