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Origin and history of edema

edema(n.)

also oedema, "excessive accumulation of serum in tissue spaces or a body cavity," c. 1400, idema, "a swelling filled with phlegmatic humors," from medical Latin, from Greek oidēma (genitive oidēmatos) "a swelling tumor," from oidein "to swell," from oidos "tumor, swelling," from PIE *oid- "to swell," source also of Latin aemidus "swelling;" Armenian aitumn "a swelling," aytnum "to swell;" Old Norse eista "testicle," Old High German eittar "pus," Old English attor "poison" (that which makes the body swell), and the first element in Oedipus.

Entries linking to edema

son of Laius and Jocasta, the king and queen of Thebes, from Greek Oidipous, literally "swollen-foot," from oidan "to swell" (from PIE *oid-; see edema) + pous (genitive podos) "foot," from PIE root *ped- "foot." Shelley titled his play based on Sophocles' work "Swellfoot the Tyrant." Oedipus complex (1910) was coined by Freud. In Latin, figurative references to Oedipus generally referred to solving riddles. Oedipus effect (1957) is Karl Popper's term for "the self-fulfilling nature of prophecies or predictions."

also papilloedema, non-inflammatory swelling of the optic disc, 1908, from papilla + edema.

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    Trends of edema

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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