Icor
Icor grece humor ycores humores liquores inde icroides .i. humorose.
Apparatus:
Icor | Iccor j
ycores AC | icores B | Iacores e | iccores fp | ictores j
humores om. f
liquores inde icroides .i. humorose om. e
icroides AC | iecoroides B | iccoroydes f | ictorides jp
humorose ABC jp | humorosse f
hũorosecteritia j {the last word humorose of this entry is written as one with the headword of the next entry Icteritia, to the left of the writing the initial capitals of both entries have converged but are marked as separate by a little dash}
Translation:
Icor is Greek for Latin humor {"liquid"}, {plural:} ycores means "humours, liquids" and derived from it is icroides ("serum-like").i. humorose {lit. "full of liquid"}.
Commentary:
Icor:
Greek ἰχώρ /ikhṓr/ {see below}, pl. ἰχῶρες /ikhôres; and ἰχωρο-ειδές /ikhōro-eidés/ (neuter form) "like serum, serous".
ἰχώρ /ikhṓr/ has undergone considerable changes in meaning in the course of time. In the Iliad it was "the juice, not blood, that flows in the veins of gods"; but later it came to mean simply "blood". II. "the watery part of animal juices, serum". 2. "serous or sero-purulent discharge" (LSJ).
This latter meaning "serous or sero-purulent discharge" is common in pathology, e.g. in Hippocrates, 19, 19, ed. Jones (1923-95: III.42-4) Περὶ τῶν ἐν κεφαλῇ τρωμάτων /Perì tôn en kephalê trōmátōn/ De vulneribus capitis, On Wounds in the Head. Here the Hippocratic author speaks of signs and symptoms that foretell the death of a patient who has a festering head wound and who develops fever: τὸ ἕλκος ἄχροον γίνεται καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἰχὼρ ῥεῗ σμικρός /tò hélkos ákhroon gínetai kaì ex autoû ikhṑr rheî smikrós/ "the wound gets discoloured and a small amount of ichor flows from it". See p. 88 [[1]] with an English translation.
Simon, however, sees the meaning of this word in very generalised terms; he equates it with Latin humor and liquor, i.e "fluid, liquid".
icroides:
Greek ἰχωροειδής,ές /ikhōroeidḗs,és/ means "serum-like, serous". In Hippocrates, 12, ed. Jones (1923-95: IV.34), Περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου /Perì phýseōs anthrṓpou/, the author speaks of certain men who first seem to escape a disease, but afterwards their bodies waste and: ῥεῖ διὰ τῶν φλεβῶν … ἰχωροειδές /rheî … dià tôn phlebôn … ikhōroeidés/ "serous matter flows through the veins", W.H.S. Jones, editor and translator of Nature of Man, Jones (1923-95: IV.35). For an online version see Jouanna (2002: 198) [[2]], with a French translation.
Simon’s Latin translation humorosus is perhaps too vague, the word simply means "moist, wet".
Ichor has survived into modern medical terminology; cf. Martin (1985: 303) defined as: "ichor … a watery material oozing from wounds and ulcers".
WilfGunther 15:44, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
