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cardiac: cardiac: see heart
diabetes: 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
diabolical: diabolical: see devil
diadem: diadem: [13] A diadem was originally something that was bound round someone’s head. The word comes, via Old French diademe and Latin diadēma, from Greek diádēma; this was a derivative of diadein, a compound verb formed from the prefix dia- ‘across’ and dein ‘bind’. In Greek it was often applied specifically to the regal headband worn by Alexander the Great and his successors.
diaeresis: diaeresis: see heresy
diagnosis: diagnosis: [17] The underlying meaning of Greek diágnōsis was ‘knowing apart’. It was derived from diagignóskein ‘distinguish, discern’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dia- ‘apart’ and gignóskein ‘know, perceive’ (a relative of English know): In postclassical times the general notion of ‘distinguishing’ or ‘discerning’ was applied specifically to medical examination in order to determine the nature of a disease.
=> know
diagonal: diagonal: [16] Diagonal is commonly used simply as a synonym for oblique, but in strict mathematical terms it denotes a line joining two non-adjacent angles of a polygon. This reveals far more clearly its origins. It comes from diagōnālis, a Latin adjective derived from Greek diagónios. This was a compound formed from the prefix dia- ‘across’ and gōníā ‘angle’ (as in English polygon), meaning ‘from angle to angle’. Gōníā is related ultimately to English knee and genuine.
=> genuine, knee, polygon
dial: dial: [15] The original application of the word dial in English is ‘sundial’. The evidence for its prehistory is patchy, but it is generally presumed to have come from medieval Latin diālis ‘daily’, a derivative of Latin diēs ‘day’, the underlying notion being that it records the passage of a 24- hour period.
dialect: dialect: [16] The notion underlying dialect and its relatives dialectic [14] and dialogue [13] is of ‘conversation’. They come ultimately from Greek dialégesthai ‘converse’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dia- ‘with each other’ and légein ‘speak’ (source of English lecture and a wide range of related words). This formed the basis of two derived nouns.

First diálektos ‘conversation, discourse’, hence ‘way of speaking’ and eventually ‘local speech’, which passed into English via Latin dialectus and Old French dialecte (from it was produced the adjective dialektikós ‘of conversation, discussion, or debate’, which was eventually to become English dialectic). Secondly diálogos ‘conversation’, which again reached English via Latin and Old French.
=> lecture
dialysis: dialysis: [16] As in the case of its close relative analysis, the underlying etymological notion contained in dialysis is of undoing or loosening, so that the component parts are separated. The word comes ultimately from Greek diálusis, a derivative of dialúein ‘tear apart’; this was a compound verb formed from the prefix dia- ‘apart’ and lúein ‘loosen, free’ (related to English less, loose, lose, and loss).

In Greek it meant simply ‘separation’, but it was borrowed into English, via Latin dialysis, as a rhetorical term denoting a set of propositions without a connecting conjunction. The chemical sense, ‘separation of molecules or particles’ (from which the modern application to ‘renal dialysis’ comes), was introduced in the 1860s by the chemist Thomas Graham (1805–69).
=> analysis, less, loose, lose, loss
diamond: diamond: [13] Diamond is an alteration of adamant, a rather archaic term which nowadays refers to hard substances in general, but formerly was also used specifically for ‘diamond’. The alteration appears to have come about in Latin of post-classical times: adamant- (stem of Latin adamas) evidently became Vulgar Latin *adimant- (source of French aimant ‘magnet’), which appears to have opened the way to confusion, or at least association, with words beginning dia-. The result was medieval Latin diamant-, which passed into English via Old French diamant.
=> adamant
diapason: diapason: [14] Diapason, a musical term now used mainly for the main stops on an organ, and also metaphorically for ‘range, scope’ in general, originally meant literally ‘through all’. It comes, via Latin diapāsōn, from the Greek phrase hē dia pasōn khordon sumphonía ‘concord through all the notes’: dia means ‘through’, and pasōn is the feminine genitive plural of pas ‘all’ (as in the English prefix pan- ‘all’).
diaper: diaper: [14] The notion underlying diaper is of extreme whiteness. It comes ultimately from Byzantine Greek díaspros, which was a compound formed from the intensive prefix diaand áspros ‘white’. (Aspros itself has an involved history: it started life as Latin asper ‘rough’ – source of English asperity – which was applied particularly to bas-relief on carvings and coins; it was borrowed into Byzantine Greek and used as a noun to designate silver coins, and their brightness and shininess led to its reconversion into an adjective, meaning ‘white’.) Díaspros appears originally to have been applied to ecclesiastical vestments, and subsequently to any shiny fabric.

When the word first entered English, via medieval Latin diasprum and Old French diapre, it referred to a rather rich silk fabric embellished with gold thread, but by the 16th century it was being used for less glamorous textiles, of white linen, with a small diamond-shaped pattern. The specific application to a piece of such cloth used as a baby’s nappy (still current in American English) seems to have developed in the 16th century.
=> asperity
diaphanous: diaphanous: [17] Semantically, diaphanous is the ancestor of modern English see-through. It comes, via medieval Latin diaphanus, from Greek diaphanés, a compound adjective formed from dia- ‘through’ and the verb phaínein ‘show’. Originally in English it meant simply ‘transparent’, without its present-day connotations of delicacy: ‘Aristotle called light a quality inherent, or cleaving to a Diaphanous body’, Walter Raleigh, History of the World 1614.
diaphragm: diaphragm: [17] The etymological notion underlying diaphragm is of a sort of ‘fence’ or ‘partition’ within the body. It comes via late Latin diaphragma from Greek diáphragma. This in turn was a derivative of diaphrássein ‘divide off, barricade’, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dia- and phrássein ‘fence in, enclose’. Originally in Greek diáphragma was applied to other bodily partitions than that between the thorax and the abdomen – to the septum which divides the two nostrils, for instance.
diarrhoea: diarrhoea: [16] Diarrhoea means literally ‘through-flow’ (and hence semantically is a parallel formation to diabetes). It comes via late Latin diarrhoea from Greek diárrhoia, a term coined by the physician Hippocrates for ‘abnormally frequent defecation’. It was formed from the prefix dia- ‘through’ and rhein ‘flow’ (a relative of English rheumatism and stream).

Of other -rrhoea formations (or -rrhea, as it is generally spelled in American English), pyorrhoea ‘inflammation of the tooth sockets’ was coined in the early 19th century, and logorrhoea at around the turn of the 20th, originally as a clinical term in psychology (although subsequently hijacked as a facetious synonym for ‘talkativeness’).
=> rheumatism, stream
diary: diary: [16] Like its semantic cousin journal, a diary is literally a ‘daily’ record. It comes from Latin diarium, a derivative of diēs ‘day’. Originally in classical Latin the word meant ‘daily allowance of food or pay’, and only subsequently came to be applied to a ‘record of daily events’. From the 17th to the 19th century English also had an adjective diary, from Latin diarius, meaning ‘lasting for one day’.
diaspora: diaspora: see sporadic
diatribe: diatribe: [16] Diatribe’s connotations of acrimoniousness and abusiveness are a relatively recent (19th-century) development. Originally in English it meant simply ‘learned discourse or disquisition’. It comes via Latin diatriba from Greek diatribé ‘that which passes, or literally wears away, the time’, and hence, in scholarly circles, ‘study’ or ‘discourse’. This was a derivative of diatribein ‘pass, waste, while away’, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dia- and tríbein ‘rub’.
=> attrition, detriment, trite
encyclopedia: encyclopedia: [16] Etymologically, encyclopedia means ‘general education’. It is a medieval formation, based on the Greek phrase egkúklios paideíā (egkúklios, a compound adjective formed from the prefix en- ‘in’ and kúklos ‘circle’ – source of English cycle – meant originally ‘circular’, and hence ‘general’, and is the ultimate source of English encyclical [17]; paideíā ‘education’ was a derivative of país ‘boy, child’, which has given English paederast [18], paedophilia [20], pedagogue [14], pedant [16], and paediatrician [20]).

This referred to the general course of education which it was customary to give a child in classical Greece, and after it was merged into a single word egkuklopaideíā and transmitted via medieval Latin encyclopedia into English, it retained that meaning at first. However, in the 17th century the term began to be applied to compendious reference works (the first, or at least the one which did most to establish the name, was perhaps that of J H Alsted in 1632).

The Encyclopedia Britannica was first published in 1768.
=> cycle, encyclical, paederast, pedagogue, pedant, pediatrician
gladiator: gladiator: [16] The main Latin word for ‘sword’ was gladius. It was probably borrowed from a Celtic word, in which case its relatives would include Irish claideb, Welsh cleddyf, and Scots Gaelic claidheamh (which with the addition of mór ‘great’ produced English claymore [18]). Among its derivatives were gladiātor, literally ‘swordsman’, and gladiolus, literally ‘little sword’, acquired by English in the 16th century.
=> claymore, gladiolus
immediate: immediate: see medium
intermediate: intermediate: see medium
medial: medial: see medium
median: median: see medium
mediate: mediate: see medium
meridian: meridian: [14] Etymologically, meridian denotes the ‘middle of the day’. It comes via Old French from Latin merīdiānus, a derivative of merīdiēs ‘mid-day’. This was an alteration of an earlier medidiēs, a compound noun formed from medius ‘middle’ (source of English medium) and diēs ‘day’. The application of the word to a circle passing round the Earth or the celestial sphere, which is an ancient one, comes from the notion of the sun crossing it at noon.
=> medium
repudiate: repudiate: [16] Repudiate originally meant ‘divorce one’s wife’. It comes from Latin repudiāre ‘divorce, reject’, a derivative of the noun repudium ‘divorce’. It has been suggested that the ultimate source of this may be pēs ‘foot’ (source of English pedal), in which case its underlying meaning would be virtually ‘kick out’.
zodiac: zodiac: [14] The zodiac is etymologically a circle of ‘little animals’. Greek zóidion originally denoted a ‘carved figure of an animal’ (it was a diminutive of zóion ‘animal’, a relative of English zoo). From it was derived the adjective zōidiakós, which was used in the expression zōidiakós kúklos ‘circle of carved figures’, denoting the twelve figures or signs representing the divisions of a band around the celestial sphere. Zōidiakós became a noun in its own right, and passed into English via Latin zōdiacus and French zodiaque.
=> zoo
Acadian: 1705, from Acadia, Latinized form of Acadie, French name of Nova Scotia, probably from Archadia, the name given to the region by Verrazano in 1520s, from Greek Arkadia, emblematic in pastoral poetry of a place of rural peace (see Arcadian); the name may have been suggested to Europeans by the native Micmac (Algonquian) word akadie "fertile land." The Acadians, expelled by the English in 1755, settled in large numbers in Louisiana (see Cajun, which is a corruption of Acadian).
adiabatic (adj.): 1838, from Greek adiabatos "not to be passed through," from a- "not" + dia "through" (see dia-) + batos "passable," from bainein "to go" (see come).
Akkadian: 1855, from Akkad (Sumerian Agde, Biblical Acca), name of city founded by Sargon I in northern Babylonia, which is of unknown origin; applied by modern scholars to the east Semitic language spoken there (c. 2300-2100 B.C.E.) and preserved in cuneiform inscriptions.
Amerindian (adj.): 1900; see Amerind, of which it is the derived adjective.
Arcadia: see Arcadian.
Arcadian: "ideally rustic or rural; an idealized rustic," 1580s, from Greek Arkadia, district in the Peloponnesus, taken by poets as an ideal region of rural felicity, traditionally from Arkas (genitive Arkadas), son of Zeus, name of the founder and first ruler of Arcadia.
benzodiazepine (n.): 1934, from benzo-, word-forming element used in chemistry to indicate presence of a benzene ring fused with another ring, + di + azo- + epine, a suffix denoting a seven-membered ring, from (h)ep(ta) (see seven).
Cambodia: from Kambu, legendary ancestor of the people. Related: Cambodian.
Canadian: 1560s; see Canada.
Canadianism (n.): 1875, from Canadian + -ism.
cardiac (adj.): c. 1600, from French cardiaque (14c.) or directly from Latin cardiacus, from Greek kardiakos "pertaining to the heart," from kardia "heart," from PIE root *kerd- (1) "heart" (see heart (n.)). Cardiac arrest is attested from 1950.

Greek kardia also could mean "stomach" and Latin cardiacus "pertaining to the stomach." This terminology continues somewhat in modern medicine. Confusion of heart and nearby digestive organs also is reflected in Breton kalon "heart," from Old French cauldun "bowels," and English heartburn for "indigestion."
chlamydia (n.): type of genital infection, 1984, from the name of the bacteria that causes it (1945), which is formed from Latinized comb. form of Greek khlamys (genitive khlamydos) "short mantle, military cloak," which is of unknown origin, + abstract noun ending -ia.
circadian (adj.): coined 1959 from Latin circa "about" (see circa) + diem, accusative singular of dies "day" (see diurnal). The original use is in circadian rhythm.
Claudia: fem. proper name, from Latin Claudius (m.).
comedian (n.): 1580s, "comic poet," later (c. 1600) "stage actor in comedies," also, generally, "actor," from Middle French comédien, from comédie (see comedy). Meaning "professional joke-teller, etc." is from 1898.
commedia dell'arte (n.): 1877, Italian, literally "comedy of art;" see comedy + art (n.).
cordial (adj.): late 14c., "of the heart," from Middle French cordial, from Medieval Latin cordialis "of or for the heart," from Latin cor (genitive cordis) "heart," from PIE root *kerd- (1) "heart" (see heart (n.)). Meaning "heartfelt, from the heart" is mid-15c. The noun is late 14c., originally "medicine, food, or drink that stimulates the heart." Related: Cordiality.
cordially (adv.): late 15c., "by heart," from cordial + -ly (2). Meaning "heartily" is from 1530s; weakened sense of "with friendliness" is attested by 1781.
custodial (adj.): 1772, from custody (Latin custodia) + -al (1).
custodian (n.): 1781, from custody (Latin custodia) + -an. As "janitor," by 1944, American English, short for custodian-janitor (by 1899).
dia-: before vowels, di-, word-forming element meaning "through, thoroughly, entirely," from Greek dia-, from dia "through, throughout," probably from the root of duo "two" (see two) with a base sense of "twice."