clinicus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkliː.nɪ.kʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkliː.ni.kus]^[1]

Forms

clīnicus m (genitive clīnicī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κλινικός (klīnikós, “of the bed”), from ⟨klī́nē⟩ “bed”.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Martial, whom he dates 40–102/103 AD, and Martial uses it of a physician.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it meant a physician who visits patients in bed, a clinical physician, as in Martial, and in Jerome a bedridden patient.^[2][5] As an adjective an inscription has clīnicus medicus.^[5]

In Medieval Latin it meant a bedridden patient.^[6] British Medieval Latin glossaries render it as a paralytic, bedridden person.^[7] Through French clinique it gave English clinic in the 1620s, first “a bedridden person”.^[8]

Timeline

• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it.^[4][3]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of a bedridden patient.^[5][4]
• 1620s – English clinic is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A physician who visits the bedridden.^[2]
2. A bedridden patient.^[5][6]

Adjective

1. Of the sickbed.^[5]

Related words

• English clinic
• English clinical

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com