diabetes

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [di.aˈbeː.teːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [di.aˈbɛː.tes]^[1]

Forms

diabētēs m (genitive diabētae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek διαβήτης (diabḗtēs, “siphon; diabetes”), literally “a passer-through”, from ⟨diabaínein⟩ “to pass through”.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and Gaffiot cite Columella, of a siphon, also called sīphō.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Columella it meant a siphon.^[4][5] The physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia (2nd century) named the disease of excessive urination diabḗtēs in Greek.^[3]

British Medieval Latin used it as a medical term, diabetes.^[6] Medical Latin diabētēs gave English diabetes in the 1560s.^[3]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a siphon.^[4][7]
• 1560s – English diabetes is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A siphon.^[4]
2. (medicine) Diabetes.^[6]

Related words

• sīphō
• English diabetes

References

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