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Origin and history of tabes

tabes(n.)

in pathology, "progressive emaciation," 1650s, medical Latin, from Latin tabes "a melting, wasting away, decay, putrefaction," from tabere "to melt, rot away, decay, be consumed" (according to Watkins, from PIE root *tā- "to melt, dissolve" (see thaw (v.)).

Related: Tabefaction (17c.) from earlier tabefy "to rot, putrefy" (Chauliac, early 15c.); also tabefacte (adj.) "rotted, putrefied." Tabescent, tabid. tabific, tabetic seem to be 19c. dictionary words.

also from 1650s

Entries linking to tabes

thaw(v.)

Middle English thauen, from Old English þawian (transitive) "reduce from a frozen to a liquid state," from Proto-Germanic *thawon- (source also of Old Norse þeyja, Middle Low German doien, Dutch dooien, Old High German douwen, German tauen "to thaw"), according to Watkins, from PIE root *tā- "to melt, dissolve" (source also of Sanskrit toyam "water," Ossetic thayun "to thaw," Welsh tawadd "molten," Doric Greek takein "to melt, waste, be consumed," Old Irish tam "pestilence," Latin tabes "a melting, wasting away, putrefaction," Old Church Slavonic tajati "to melt").

The intransitive sense of "pass from a frozen to a liquid state" is attested from early 14c. Figuratively, "be released from any condition resembling frozenness, become supple or warm." Related: Thawed; thawing.

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    Trends of tabes

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

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    tutor
    late 14c., "guardian, custodian," from Old French tuteor "guardian, private teacher" (13c., Modern French tuteur), from Latin tutorem (nominative tutor) "guardian, watcher," from tutus, variant past participle of tueri "watch over, look at," a word of uncertain origin. De Vaan su
    invest
    late 14c., "to clothe in the official robes of an office," from Latin investire "to clothe in, cover, surround," from in "in, into" (from PIE root *en "in") + vestire "to dress, clothe," from PIE *wes- (2) "to clothe," extended form of root *eu- "to dress." The meaning "use money
    bow
    [bend the body] Middle English bouen, from Old English bugan "to bend, become bent, have or assume a curved direction; to bow down, bend the body in condescension or reverence, to submit," also "to turn back" (class II strong verb; past tense beag, past participle bogen), from Pr
    patsy
    "fall guy, victim of a deception," by 1903, of uncertain origin, possibly an alteration of Italian pazzo "madman" (see patch (n.2)), or south Italian dialectal paccio "fool." Another theory traces it to Patsy Bolivar, character created by Billy B. Van in an 1890s vaudeville skit
    development
    1756, "a gradual unfolding, a full working out or disclosure of the details of something;" see develop + -ment. Meaning "the internal process of expanding and growing" is by 1796; sense of "advancement through progressive stages" is by 1836.  Of property, with a sense of "a
    Jehovah
    1530, Tyndale's transliteration of Hebrew Tetragrammaton YHWH using vowel points of Adhonai "my lord" (see Yahweh). Used for YHWH (the full name being too sacred for utterance) in four places in the Old Testament in the KJV where the usual translation the lord would have been inc
    cowboy
    1725, "boy who tends to cows and drives them to and from pasture," from cow (n.) + boy. American-English sense of "man employed to have care of grazing cattle on the Great Plains for a stockman or ranch, doing his work on horseback" is by 1849. Earlier it was an insulting name fo
    idol
    mid-13c., "image of a deity as an object of (pagan) worship," from Old French idole "idol, graven image, pagan god" (11c.), from Latin idolum "image (mental or physical), form," especially "apparition, ghost," but used in Church Latin for "false god, image of a pagan deity as an
    Rubicon
    in the figurative phrase cross (or pass) the Rubicon "take a decisive step," 1620s, a reference to a small stream to the Adriatic on the coast of northern Italy which in ancient times formed part of the southern boundary of Cisalpine Gaul. It was crossed by Caesar, Jan. 10, 49 B.
    plunge
    late 14c., plungen, "to put, throw, or thrust violently into; immerse, submerge," also intransitive, from Old French plongier "plunge, sink into; plunge into, dive in" (mid-12c., Modern French plonger), from Vulgar Latin *plumbicare "to heave the lead," from Latin plumbum "lead"

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    Dictionary entries near tabes
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