A.W.A.D. - Words From Old Medical Terms

with Anu Garg

Ancient medical practitioners believed that a healthy body had a balance of four essential fluids, also known as humors (from Latin humere: to be wet, which also gave us the word humid). Those humors were blood, yellow bile (aka choler), black bile, and phlegm. Each humor was associated with a season and an element (air, water, fire, and earth). An imbalance of humors was thought to cause a change in temperament or worse.

Thankfully, we have come a long way from that theory about the human body. We no longer use that method to diagnose people's conditions, though the terms live on in the language by being used as metaphors.
choleric
PRONUNCIATION: (KAHL-uhr-ik)
MEANING: adjective:
Easily irritated or angered; hot-tempered

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin cholericus, from Greek cholerikos, from chole (bile). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghel- (to shine) that is also the source of words such as yellow, gold, glimmer, gloaming, glimpse, glass, arsenic, and cholera.
USAGE: "In every choleric outburst from Sir Alan, every lifted eyebrow and pursed lip from his lieutenants, the subtext is clear."Libby Purves; The Apprentice; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Jun 6, 2009

phlegmatic
PRONUNCIATION:(fleg-MAT-ik)
MEANING: adjective:
1. Having a sluggish temperament; apathetic
2. Calm or composed

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin phlegmaticus, from Greek phlegmatikos, from phlegm (inflammation, the humor phlegm supposedly as a result of heat), from phlegein (to burn).

USAGE: "So why are Israelis almost hysterical about the Iranian threat, while South Koreans are phlegmatic about the North Korean threat?"Gwynne Dyer; Koreans, Israelis and Nukes; The Korea Times (Seoul); May 26, 2009

sanguine
PRONUNCIATION: (SANG-gwin)
MEANING: adjective:
1. Cheerfully optimistic or confident
2. Having a healthy reddish color
3. Blood-red

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus (bloody), from sanguis (blood).

USAGE: "As usual, Phillips is sanguine: Michael is totally focused now, and the insurance wasn't a problem, it was just expensive."Robert Sandall; Will Michael Jackson Survive His Concert Marathon? The Sunday Times (London, UK); May 31, 2009
melancholic
PRONUNCIATION: (mel-uhn-KOL-ik)
MEANING: adjective:
1. Gloomy; wistful
2. Saddening
3. Of or related to melancholia

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin melancholia, from Greek melancholia (the condition of having an excess of black bile), from melan- (black) + chole (bile), ultimately from the Indo-European root ghel- (to shine) that is also the source of words such as yellow, gold, glimmer, gloaming, glimpse, glass, arsenic, and cholera.

USAGE: "Zach Galifianakis: The only kind of music I do know how to play is melancholic, sad stuff because nothing happy is coming out of my body musically."Kate Ward; Zach Galifianakis; Entertainment Weekly (New York); Jun 4, 2009
bilious
PRONUNCIATION: (BIL-yuhs)
MEANING: adjective:
1. Extremely unpleasant
2. Ill-natured; irritable
3. Relating to bile

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin bilis (bile)

USAGE: "The Sharia introduction in some states of the federation has been a victim of these groups of elites' unbridled intimidatory and bilious antics."Abubakar Gimba; The Season of Unreason; Daily Trust (Abuja, Nigeria); Sep 18, 2002

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