lysis

Forms

lysis f (genitive lysis or lyseōs or lysios); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek λύσις (lúsis, “a loosening”),^[2][3][1] a noun from λύω (lúō, “to loosen, untie”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to loosen, divide, cut apart”).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in Vitruvius, the only author the OLD cites for it:^[2][5] in a passage on lintels and beams that sag under a load, the word apparently means a loosening or weakening of the structure, though the reading is doubtful.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Vitruvius also uses it as an architectural term for a moulding, the cymatium;^[2] Lewis & Short gloss this sense as a talon or ogee.^[3] The TLL notes that it is sometimes written in Greek letters.^[6]

The word passed into the modern scientific vocabulary: English took lysis in 1834 for the gradual recession of a disease, since 1902 also for the dissolution of cells.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for a weakening of a structure and for a moulding.^[2][5]
• end of 4th century AD – The herbal of Pseudo-Apuleius has an unrelated lysis, the name of a snake.^[6][5]
• 1834 – English borrows lysis for the gradual recession of a disease.^[4]
• 1902 – English uses lysis for the dissolution of cells.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (apparently) A loosening or weakening.^[2][3]
2. (architecture) A moulding, the cymatium; a talon or ogee.^[2][3]

Related words

• English lysis

Usage notes

The TLL has a second lysis, the name of a snake in the herbal of Pseudo-Apuleius, of obscure origin.^[6] Lewis & Short also list Lysis as the name of a river in Asia Minor and of a Pythagorean philosopher of Tarentum.^[3]

References

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