cholera

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkʰɔ.ɫɛ.ra]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkɔː.le.ra]^[1]

Forms

cholera f (genitive cholerae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek χολέρα (choléra, “a bilious disease”).^[2][1] The Greek word is from χολή (kholḗ, “bile”).^[3][4] Celsus explains that the Greeks named the disease after the bile that bursts out above and below.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Celsus describes it as a disease of the stomach and intestines with diarrhoea, vomiting and cramps.^[5][2] Köbler dates Celsus 14–37 AD.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a bilious disease with vomiting and diarrhoea, European or summer cholera, and an attack of it, in Celsus, Scribonius Largus and Pliny.^[2][5] Lewis & Short gloss it as jaundice.^[6] Lampridius uses it of bile itself.^[7]

Isidore of Seville explains it as an outpouring of bile.^[5] In medieval Latin it meant bile, one of the four humours, the disease, and also anger or rage, the sense that gave French colère.^[8][9][1] English cholera is recorded in the late 14th century for bile or melancholy, at first the same word as choler.^[3]

Timeline

• 14–37 AD – Celsus describes the disease.^[5][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it.^[2][4]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains its name.^[5][4]
• late 14th century – English cholera is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. cholera, a disease with vomiting and diarrhoea; an attack of it.^[2][1]
2. bile.^[7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) anger, rage.^[8]

Word family

• cholericus

Related words

• English cholera
• English choler

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press