hecticus

Forms

hecticus (feminine hectica, neuter hecticum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2] Late and medieval spellings include ⟨ethicus⟩, ⟨ecticus⟩ and ⟨etycus⟩.^[3][2] The Latin Alexander of Tralles writes it only with ⟨ethic-⟩.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἑκτικός (hektikós, “habitual, continuing”).^[1][2][4][3] Etymonline explains the Greek physicians' use of it for a fever either by the fever being rooted in the constitution of the body or by its continuing.^[5] Köbler compares Proto-Indo-European *seg̑ʰ- (“to hold”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It belongs to medical Latin.^[1] Köbler's first source is the Latin version of Oribasius,^[3] which often speaks of the hectica febris and says that it is of two kinds.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The Latin Soranus pairs it with phthisicus of thin, wasted women,^[1] and the Latin Alexander of Tralles uses it of patients with a wasting fever, for whom fruit is a good food because it moistens.^[1] In Medieval Latin it remained the term for the hectic fever: Constantine the African divides it into two kinds,^[2] and a writer quoted in the DMLBS divides fevers into ephemeral, hectic and putrid.^[4] As a masculine noun it meant a sufferer from this fever, a consumptive, and as a feminine noun the disease itself, consumption.^[2][4][3] Whethamstede's register uses it figuratively, of a consumption in the mystical body.^[4] The glossaries also give it the plain sense “habitual”.^[6]

English took it in the late 14th century, as etik in fever etik, through Old French; the ⟨h⟩ was restored in the 16th century.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 325–c. 403 AD – The Latin version of Oribasius speaks of the hectic fever.^[1][3]
• c. 525–c. 605 AD – The Latin Alexander of Tralles uses it of patients.^[1][3]
• 7th century AD – The Latin Paul of Aegina uses it of fever.^[2][3]
• 1020–1087 – Constantine the African uses the noun of sufferers.^[2][3]
• late 14th century – English borrows it through Old French as etik.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin, medicine) Hectic, of a wasting fever;^[1][2][4] febris hectica: hectic fever.^[1][2]
2. (Late Latin, medicine) Suffering from a wasting disease, consumptive.^[1][3]
3. (Late Latin) Habitual.^[6]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, masculine) A sufferer from hectic fever, a consumptive.^[2][4][3]
2. (Medieval Latin, feminine) Consumption, hectic fever.^[2][4]

Related words

• English hectic

Usage notes

In Seneca the Elder's Controversiae the manuscripts have hecticos in a remark of Albucius, which the TLL thinks doubtful, perhaps an adverb meaning “aptly, skilfully”; later editions read ethicos.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.