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hepaticus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word hepaticus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
23–79 Pliny the Elder More words from the 1st century
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek ἡπατικός
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek ἧπαρ
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin hēpaticus
English hepatic

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [heːˈpa.tɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈpaː.ti.kus][1]

Forms

hēpaticus (feminine hēpatica, neuter hēpaticum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἡπατικός (hēpatikós),[2][3][4] from ἧπαρ (hêpar, “liver”).[4][5] The Greek noun is cognate with Latin iecur (“liver”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder (23/24–79 AD) uses the plural noun hepatici for people with a liver complaint, saying that a plant called tripolion is given to them.[6][4] Celsus still writes the word in Greek.[3]

Semantic evolution

Medical writers also used it as an adjective, of the liver and its diseases: Isidore of Seville explains hepaticus (understood with morbus) as named after the suffering of the liver,[6][3] and Cassius Felix speaks of a liver potion.[6] Palladius uses it for a liver-coloured aloe.[3] Medieval Latin kept the sense “of the liver”.[7] English hepatic (late 14th century) comes from it directly or through Old French.[5]

Timeline

  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses hepatici for liver patients.[6][4]
  • end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century – Palladius applies it to a liver-coloured aloe.[3][4]
  • c. 560–636 – Isidore of Seville uses it for a disease of the liver.[6][4]
  • late 14th century – English borrows it as hepatic.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person suffering from a liver complaint.[2][3]

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to the liver;[6][3][7] hepaticus morbus: a liver disease.[6][3][7]
  2. Liver-coloured.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Hepaticus.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/hepaticus. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·