φλέγμα Ancient Greek · revision 2234

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Homer, Iliad|origins=ine-pro *bʰleg-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /pʰléŋ.ma/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈɸleɣ.ma/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈfleɣ.ma/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''φλέγμᾰ''' (phlégma) ''n'' (genitive φλέγμᾰτος); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|grc|φλέγω|-μα|tr1=phlégō|tr2=-ma|t1=to burn, inflame]].^(Wiktionary)^(Beekes 2010)^(LSJ 1940) How the sense passed from “flame, inflammation” to “slime, phlegm” is unexplained.^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ [[m|grc|φλέγω|tr=phlégō]] continues Proto-Indo-European [[m|ine-pro|*bʰleg-|t=to burn, shine]].^(Beekes 2010)^(LIV 2001) Its nearest relatives are Latin [[m|la|fulgō|t=to flash, shine]], [[m|la|flagrō|t=to blaze]] and [[m|la|flamma|t=flame]], and the Tocharian verb pälk- “to shine, burn”.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(LIV 2001)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer has it once, for a flame or blaze, in the ''Iliad''.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In medicine it first meant inflammation and heat, in the Hippocratic writers and Galen.^(LSJ 1940) It then became phlegm, one of the four humours of the body: Herodotus mentions it, the Hippocratic ''Nature of Man'' counts it among the humours, Plato's ''Timaeus'' makes acid and salty phlegm the source of all catarrhal diseases, and Aristotle contrasts hot bile with cold phlegm.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Prodicus of Ceos explained the name as what is burnt and overcooked in the humours.^(Etygram) “White phlegm” was a kind of dropsy.^(LSJ 1940) In poetry it could mean an angry humour, as “the savage phlegm of Archilochus”.^(LSJ 1940)^(Πάπυρος)

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+ Latin borrowed the medical word, and through it French and English: English ''phlegm'' is recorded from the late 14th century.^(Πάπυρος)^(Etymonline) Modern Greek [[m|el|φλέγμα|tr=flégma]] is mucus and, after English ''phlegm'', coolness and composure.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – The ''Iliad'' uses it for a blaze.^(Cunliffe 1924)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus mentions phlegm.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers count it among the humours.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato makes phlegm the source of catarrhal diseases.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 4th century BC – Aristotle calls bile hot and phlegm cold.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * Late 14th century – English ''phlegm'' is first recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A flame, fire, heat.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(medicine)'' [[m|en|inflammation]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # [[m|en|phlegm]], one of the four [[m|en|humour|alt=humours]] of the body.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # λευκὸν φλέγμα, a kind of dropsy.^(LSJ 1940)

+ # ''(poetic)'' An angry humour.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[φλεγματικός|tr=phlegmatikós]]

+ * [[φλεγμαίνω|tr=phlegmaínō]]

+ * [[φλεγμονή|tr=phlegmonḗ]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[φλέγω|tr=phlégō]]

+ * [[φλόξ|tr=phlóx]]

+ * [[en|phlegm]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}