ἀρθρῖτις

Forms

ἀρθρῖτῐς (arthrîtis) ^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἄρθρον (árthron, “joint”) + -ῖτις (-îtis).^[1][2] It looks like the feminine of an adjective *ἀρθρίτης (*arthrítēs), which is not attested; the feminine agrees with an understood νόσος (nósos, “disease”), so that the phrase means “disease of the joints”.^[3][1][4] Debrunner notes that feminines in -ῖτις (-îtis) became the usual way of naming diseases in medical language, as with ἡπατῖτις (hēpatîtis) from ἧπαρ (hêpar, “liver”), and that the pattern is still used today.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Hippocratic writings of the 5th century BC, both as an adjective with νόσος and on its own for a disease of the joints, gout.^[3][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed in medical use: Dioscorides, Aretaeus and above all Galen use it, and nearly all its occurrences in the GLAUx corpus are in 2nd-century AD medical texts.^[6][7] Porphyry still uses the phrase with νόσος.^[3][6]

It passed into medical Latin as arthrītis, which gave English arthritis in the 1540s, and English had earlier used the noun arthetica.^[1][4] In Modern Greek the learned αρθρίτιδα (arthrítida), made from the ancient accusative, is the inflammation of the joints.^[8][1]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use it of disease of the joints.^[3][6][7]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses it.^[7]
• 2nd century AD – Aretaeus and Galen use it often in their medical works.^[6][7]
• 3rd century AD – Porphyry writes of the disease as ἀρθρῖτις νόσος.^[3][6]
• 1540s – English borrows arthritis from medical Latin.^[4]
• Modern Greek – The learned αρθρίτιδα (arthrítida) means arthritis.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or in the joints, said of a disease.^[3][6]

Noun

1. (medicine) Disease of the joints, arthritis, gout.^[3][6][9]

Related words

• ἄρθρον (árthron)
• ἡπατῖτις (hēpatîtis)
• Latin arthritis
• English arthritis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Debrunner, Albert (1917), Griechische Wortbildungslehre, Heidelberg: Winter; Greek tr. on the Portal for the Greek Language, https://www.greek-language.gr
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c d e Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli