Diates

From Simon Online
Revision as of 16:08, 7 October 2013 by WilfGunther (Talk | contribs) (Cassius Felix on rheunmatica diathesis {"rheumatic condition"}.)

Jump to: navigation, search

Diates .g. Cassius felix reumatica passio quando .s. sanguinis tumor membro supervenit maxime in iuncturis et in facie.


Apparatus:

sanguinis C | sanguĩs A e | sanguis B f

in iũcturis et (& ABC) in facie ABC e | ĩ facie et ĩ iuncturis f


Translation:

Diates is the Greek term, which Cassius Felix explains as reumatica passio {“rheumatic affliction”}, i.e. when a gathering of blood afflicts a limb, predominantly in the joints and in the face.


Commentary:

Greek διάθεσις /diáthesis/ means “placing in order, arrangement; disposition; bodily state”, of which the latter meaning applies here. Simon’s witnesses all show a curtailed form: Diates, possibly from a *Diatesis in their common source where the noun ending –is was abbreviated – often e.g. as “|”, i.e. *diates| – and then no longer recognized as such by the copyists.

Simon has also dropped the adjective that must have preceded *diatesis, since διάθεσις /diáthesis/ itself is a general term, cf. κωλικὴ διάθεσις /kōlikḕ diathesis/ meaning “colic”. The original expression can be assumed from Simon’s translation reumatica passio and it is also found in Cassius Felix’s text, cf. below, and it would have been in Greek ῥευματικὴ διάθεσις /rheumatikḕ diáthesis/ or in Simon’s expected transcription: *reumatice diatesis, “rheumatic condition”.

Simon’s entry is a brief resume of a more explicit passage in Cassius Felix De medicina, pp.47/48, chapter XXIII. Ad reuma {“On flux/rheum”}, § 1: Intellegitur reuma quotiens valida influxione humoris nullis praecedentibus causis subito intumuerit membrum. Et appellatur a Graecis reumatice diathesis id est reumatica passio. Contingit frequenter, maxime tamen in articulosis locis, ut exempli causa in genu aut in cubito aut iugulo aut maxilla cum aure usque ad tempora, aliquando etiam simul et faciem, … - “One can always diagnose flux or rheum when, due to a strong inflowing of humour and without there being any previous afflictions, a limb has suddenly swollen up. This is called by the Greeks ‘reumatice diathesis’, which means ‘rheumatic condition’. It affects people often, predominantly in the joints, e.g. the knee, the elbow, the collarbone or the jawbone with the ear and up to the temples, sometimes even the whole of the face …”


Next entry