- diabetes
[diabetes 词源字典] - diabetes: [16] Diabetes means literally ‘passing through’; it was originally so named in Greek because one of the symptoms of the disease is excessive discharge of urine. Greek diabétēs was a derivative of diabaínein ‘pass through’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dia- ‘through’ and baínein ‘go’ (a relative of English basis and come). English acquired it via medieval Latin diabētēs. Compare DIARRHOEA.
=> basis, come[diabetes etymology, diabetes origin, 英语词源] - diabetes (n.)
- 1560s, from medical Latin diabetes, from late Greek diabetes "excessive discharge of urine" (so named by Aretaeus the Cappadocian, physician of Alexandria, 2c.), literally "a passer-through, siphon," from diabainein "to pass through," from dia- "through" (see dia-) + bainein "to go" (see come).
An old common native name for it was pissing evil. In classical Greek, diabainein meant "to stand or walk with the legs apart," and diabetes meant "a drafting compass," from the position of the legs.
