Etymologically
Log in

χολέρα

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 04:50. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /kʰo.lé.ra/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /xoˈle.ra/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /xoˈle.ra/[1]

Forms

χολέρᾰ (kholéra) f (genitive χολέρᾱς); first declension[1] Ionic χολέρη, also χολέρρη.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is a medical term, formed like ὑστέρα (hustéra) and the disease names ἴκτερος (íkteros, “jaundice”) and ὕδερος (húderos, “dropsy”), perhaps a noun made from an unattested adjective *χολερός with a shift of accent.[3][1][4] For formal reasons its base is more likely χολή (kholḗ, “bile”), as Celsus said, than χολάς (kholás, “guts”), as Alexander of Tralles thought.[3][2] Wiktionary, following Beekes, does not rule out a Pre-Greek origin.[3][2][1] The comparison with Old Irish galar (“sickness”) is rejected.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Hippocratic writers use it for a disease in which the humours were violently discharged by vomiting and diarrhoea, and “dry cholera” for an obstinate obstruction.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Aretaeus also uses it.[2] In the Septuagint it means nausea or disgust: “it shall be nausea to you” (Numbers).[2][5] Hesychius records it also as a pipe for water, the same as χολέδρα.[2][3]

Modern Greek χολέρα (choléra) is the epidemic disease, also a disease of poultry, and an insult for a very ill-tempered woman.[6][4] It was borrowed as Latin cholera.[1]

Timeline

  • 5th century BC – the Hippocratic writers describe cholera.[2][7]
  • 2nd century AD – Aretaeus uses it.[2][7]
  • Septuagint – “nausea”.[2][5]
  • Modern Greek – χολέρα, the epidemic disease.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (medicine) cholera, a disease with violent vomiting and diarrhoea.[2][3]
  2. (with ξηρή) Obstinate obstruction of the bowels.[2][3]
  3. nausea, disgust.[2][5]
  4. A pipe that carries water, the same as χολέδρα.[2][3]

Word family

  • χολερικός (kholerikós)
  • χολή (kholḗ)
  • English cholera
  • English choleric

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 g h i j Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  5. ^ a b c Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  7. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge