φλέγω

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Last modification

Sun, 03/13/2022 - 12:20

Word-form

φλεμονή

Transliteration (Word)

phlegmonē

English translation (word)

inflammation

Transliteration (Etymon)

phlegō

English translation (etymon)

to burn

Author

Soranus of Ephesus

Century

2 AD

Source

Idem

Ref.

Gynaeciorum libri iv, 3.17.1

Ed.

J. Ilberg, Sorani Gynaeciorum libri iv, de signis fracturarum, de fasciis, vita Hippocratis secundum Soranum [Corpus medicorum Graecorum 4. Leipzig: Teubner, 1927]

Quotation

φλεγμονὴ κέκληται μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ φλέγειν καὶ οὐχ ὡς ὁ Δημόκριτος εἴρηκεν ἀπὸ τοῦ αἴτιον εἶναι τὸ φλέγμα.

Translation (En)

Phlegmonē "inflammation" is so called from the verb phlegein "to burn", not, as Democritus says, from the fact that it is caused by the phlegm (phlegma).

Comment

Derivational etymology relating the noun directly to the verb φλέγω.

Parallels

Ps.-Galen, Definitiones medicae, Kühn vol. 19, p. 41 (εἴρηται δὲ φλεγμονὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ οἷον φλέγεσθαι τὸν τόπον); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges, p. 420 (s.v. ἡδονή) (Ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἥδω, τὸ εὐφραίνομαι, ἡδονὴ, ὡς φλέγω, φλεγμονή· πλήθω, πλησμονή); Ps.-Zonaras, Lexicon, eta, p. 976 (ἢ παρὰ τὸ ἥδω ἡδονή· ὡς φλέγω φλεγμονή· πλήθω πληγμονή)

Modern etymology

Derived from the same *-men- stem underlying φλέγμα, and ultimately from φλέγω

Persistence in Modern Greek

MG still has φλεγμονή as a technical medical word

Entry By

Le Feuvre