Etymologically
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diabetes

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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]

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