Diabetes: Difference between revisions

The word ''diabetes'' comes from Latin diabētēs, which in turn comes from Ancient Greek διαβήτης (diabētēs) which literally means ''a passer through; a siphon.''<cite>51</cite> Ancient Greek physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia (fl. 1st century CE (Common Era)) used that word, with the intended meaning ''excessive discharge of urine'', as the name for the disease.<cite>52</cite><cite>53</cite> Ultimately, the word comes from Greek διαβαίνειν (diabainein), meaning ''to pass through,''<cite>51</cite> which is composed of  δια- (dia-), meaning ''through'' and βαίνειν (bainein), meaning ''to go''.<ref name=OnlineEtymology_diabetes/> The word ''diabetes'' is first recorded in English, in the form ''diabete'', in a medical text written around 1425.

The word ''wikt:mellitus|mellitus'' ({{IPAc-en|m|?|'|l|a?|t|?|s}} or {{IPAc-en|'|m|?|l|?|t|?|s}}) comes from the classical Latin word ''mellitus'', meaning ''mellite''<ref name=OED_mellite>Oxford English Dictionary. ''mellite''. Retrieved 2011-06-10.</ref> (i.e. sweetened with honey;<ref name=OED_mellite/> honey-sweet<ref name=MyEtymology_mellitus>{{cite web

  | accessdate = 2011-06-10}}</ref>). The Latin word comes from ''mell''-, which comes from ''mel'', meaning ''honey'';<ref name=OED_mellite/><ref name=MyEtymology_mellitus/> sweetness;<ref name=MyEtymology_mellitus/> pleasant thing,<ref name=MyEtymology_mellitus/> and the suffix -''itus'',<ref name=OED_mellite/> whose meaning is the same as that of the English suffix ''-ite''.<ref name=OED_-ite>Oxford English Dictionary. ''-ite''. Retrieved 2011-06-10.</ref> It was Thomas Willis who in 1675 added ''mellitus'' to the word ''diabetes'' as a designation for the disease, when he noticed the urine of a diabetic had a sweet taste  (glycosuria).<ref name=RCPE/> This sweet taste had been noticed in urine by the ancient Greeks, Chinese, Egyptians, Indians, and Persians.