μελαγχολία Ancient Greek · revision 3116

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=5th century BC, Hippocratic writings|origins=grc μέλας, grc χολή}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /me.laŋ.kʰo.lí.aː/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /me.laŋ.xoˈli.a/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /me.laŋ.xoˈli.a/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''μελαγχολῐ́ᾱ''' (melankholíā) ''f'' (genitive μελαγχολῐ́ᾱς); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is derived from [[μελάγχολος|tr=melánkholos|t=having black bile]] with the suffix [[m|grc|-ία|tr=-ía]].^(Wiktionary) The adjective is formed from [[μέλας|tr=mélas|t=black]] and [[χολή|tr=kholḗ|t=bile]]: an excess of black bile.^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Hippocratic treatise ''Airs, Waters, Places'' uses it, in the plural, for melancholic disorders.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Ancient medicine attributed low spirits and madness to an excess of black bile, one of the four humours, so the word meant both the disease and the state of mind.^(Etymonline)^(CGL 2021) Timaeus of Locri, Philodemus and the astrological poet Manetho use it, and Aretaeus has the singular for the disease.^(LSJ 1940) Plutarch uses it for the madness or depression caused by black bile.^(CGL 2021)

+

+ Medieval Greek used it for sadness and distress.^(Kriaras) Late Latin borrowed it as [[m|la-lat|melancholia]], and English ''melancholy'' came from Old French about 1300, first as a mental disorder.^(Etymonline) Modern Greek [[m|el|μελαγχολία|tr=melancholía]] is sadness and gloom, and in psychiatry a pathological depression.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use it for melancholic disorders.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1st century BC – Philodemus uses it.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for madness or depression.^(CGL 2021)

+ * 12th–17th century – Vernacular Greek uses it for sadness.^(Kriaras)

+ * c. 1300 – English borrows ''melancholy'' through French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(medicine)'' A disorder caused by an excess of black bile; [[m|en|melancholy]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # Madness; [[m|en|depression]].^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(medieval)'' Sadness, distress.^(Kriaras)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[μέλας|tr=mélas]]

+ * [[χολή|tr=kholḗ]]

+ * [[la|melancholia]]

+ * [[en|melancholy]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}