Etymologically
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dosis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdɔ.sɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɔː.s̬is][1]

Forms

dosis f (genitive dosis or doseōs or dosios); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek δόσις (dósis, “a giving; a portion prescribed”).[1][2][3] Greek physicians, Galen among them, used it for an amount of medicine.[4][1] Wiktionary traces the Greek noun to Proto-Indo-European *déh₃tis and calls the native Latin dōs (“dowry”) its doublet.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first instance is in the medical writer Cassius Felix (447 AD), who speaks of a full dose, est perfecta dosis.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It stayed a word of the physicians: the spurious additions to Theodorus Priscianus measure a dose “in the manner of a smaller nut” and “to the size of a hazelnut”.[3] Medieval antidotaries and medical writers kept it for a measured amount of a drug,[5][6] and Thaddeus of Florence prescribes a dose of four ounces.[5] A medieval poem uses it figuratively of faith, hope and love as an antidote taken in equal measure.[6] It could also keep the Greek sense “a giving”: a Hungarian chronicle of the 14th century explains the name Ladislaus from laos “people” and dosis, “giving or gift”.[7][8]

French and English took it as dose, English in the early 15th century, from Old French or directly from Medieval Latin.[4] In 1560 Guillaume Rondelet writes that the ancients learned by observation and handed down the dose of each remedy.[9]

Timeline

  • 447 AD – Cassius Felix uses it of a dose of medicine.[3][2]
  • 2nd half of the 13th century – Thaddeus of Florence prescribes a dose of four ounces.[5][2]
  • early 15th century – English dose is recorded.[4]
  • 1560 – Guillaume Rondelet writes of the right dose of each remedy.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin, medicine) A dose, a measured amount of a medicine.[3][1][5][6]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A giving, a gift.[5][7][8]

Usage notes

Du Cange records a separate medieval dosis, also dorix, meaning a spring or water conduit, from a 13th-century glossary.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
  8. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
  9. ^ a b Jeanneau, Gérard; Woitrain, Jean-Paul; Hassid, Jean-Claude (2017), Dictionnaire latin-français, online ed., prima-elementa.fr
  10. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre