cacoethes

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See also: cacoëthes

English

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WOTD – 19 October 2015

Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin cacoēthes, from Ancient Greek κακοήθης (kakoḗthēs, “ill-disposed”) from κακός (kakós, “bad”) + ἦθος (êthos, “disposition, nature”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌkakəʊˈiːθiːz/
  • Hyphenation: ca‧co‧e‧thes

Noun

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cacoethes (plural cacoethe)

  1. Compulsion; mania.
    • 2012, Paul Keen, Literature, Commerce, and the Spectacle of Modernity, 1750–1800, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 92:
      The Speculator responded to the letter with a blend of commiseration and alarm: "this young gentleman's situation is truly pitiable. The cacoethes scribendi is certainly one of the most troublesome diseases of the mind; and when it thus totally possesses a man, I scarce know any madness equal to it" (51:20). The cacoethes scribendi, which as An Impartial and Candid Disquisition into the Case of Sporus, by A Lover of Truth and Impartiality (1755) explained, "is a hard Word for a Disease called in plain English, the Itch of Writing," was a staple of literary satire (24).
    • 2013 April, Jean-Jacques Fournier, “On Wings of Cacoethes: A Risky Flight”, in Reflexions of a Probing Eye, [s.l.]: FON International Guides, →ISBN, page 74:
      […] So swallow pride / And pay the fare, / To climb aboard / As had before / For yet another ride, / On wings of cacoethes, […]
  2. (medicine, obsolete) A bad quality or disposition in a disease; a malignant tumour or ulcer.
    • 1661, Daniel Sennert, translated by Nicholas Culpeper and Abdiah Cole, The Art of Chirurgery, Explained in Six Parts [...] Being the Whol Fifth Book of Practical Physick. By D. Sennert', Doctor of Physick. And R.W. Nicholas Culpeper, Physitian and Astrologer. Abdiah Cole, Doctor of Physick, and the Liberal Arts, London: Printed by Peter Cole and Edward Cole, Printers and Book-sellers, at the Sign of the Printing-press in Cornhill, neer the Royal Exchange, →OCLC, page 2572:
      Chap. 14. Of Ulcers hard to be cured, commonly called Cacoethe, Telephium, and Chironium. […] Galen in his firſt Book of the Compoſition of Medicaments according to their kinds, Chap. 18. diſtinguiſheth between theſe Dyſepulote Ulcers, that is to ſay, ſuch as are hardly brought to a Cicatrice, and the Ulcers Cacoethe, or Malignant: and he calleth ſuch of them Dyſepulote, that ariſe from the conflux of either many or ſharp humors; […]
    • 1734, Richard Wiseman, “Of Ulcers”, in Eight Chirurgical Treatises, on these Following Heads: viz. I. Of Tumours. II. Of Ulcers. III. Of Diseases of the Anus. IV. Of the King's Evil. V. Of Wounds. VI. Of Gun-shot Wounds. VII. Of Fractures and Luxations. VIII. Of the Lues Venerea [...] In Two Volumes, 6th edition, volume I, London: Printed for J. Walthoe [et al.], →OCLC, page 277:
      As all Ulcers complicated with great Diseases are of difficult Cure, and therefore called Cacoethe: so these Ulcers labouring under Intemperies though they be well handled, are hard of Cure, and may be truly reckoned among the Cacoethe, malign and rebellious Ulcers.
    • 1831, Aulus Cornelius Celsus, translated by Alex[ander] Lee, Aur. Cor. Celsus on Medicine, in Eight Books, Latin and English. Translated from L[eonardo] Targa's Edition, the Words of the Text being Arranged in the Order of Construction. To which are Prefixed, a Life of the Author [by Johan Rhodius], Tables of Weights and Measures, with Explanatory Notes, etc. Designed to Facilitate the Progress of Medical Students, volume I, London: E. Cox, St. Thomas's Street, Southwark, →OCLC, page 99:
      If the tumour be compressed in some, the parts in immediate contact become tense and swollen. For this reason it is the worst kind of disease. It generally commences by what the Greeks call Cacoethes, or malignant tumour, then proceeds to Carcinoma, or scirrhus, without ulceration: afterwards to ulcer: then to a thymium. None of these can be removed except the Cacoethes: the rest are aggravated by every method of treatment; and the more energetic the remedies, the more irritable they become. […] [N]o one can distinguish a cacoethes, which is curable, from a carcinoma, which is incurable, except by time and experiment.

Usage notes

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Not to be confused with cacoethics (“bad ethics or morals; bad habits”).

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Etymology

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Derived from Ancient Greek κακόηθες (kakóēthes), the neuter form of κακοήθης (kakoḗthēs, “ill-disposed”), from κακός (kakós, “bad”) + ἦθος (êthos, “disposition, nature”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cacoēthes n (genitive cacoēthis); third declension

  1. A malignant tumour or disease.
    • 1530, Galenus with Ioannem Guinterium [Johann Guenther], Clavdii Galeni pergameni, medicorvm principis, De compositione medicamentorvm ΚΑΤᾺ ΓΈΝΗ [kata genē] lib. VII, volume VII, Basel: [Ex officina Andreae Cratandri], →OCLC, page [40]:
      His igitur auditis quiſpiam, & ſimplicium medicamentorũ uiribus intellectis, diſcernere роterit, quæ maiores noſtri ad ulcera cacoëthe pharmaca cõſcripſerint:ſicut mox Aſclepiades, cognomento Pharmacion, in tertio τῶμἐχτὸς in hunc modum tradidit.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1628, Bartolommeo Castelli with Emmanuel Stupanus, Lexicon medicvm græco-latinum, compendiosiss[imum] à Bartholomæo Castello Messanense inchoatum, nunc vero mystarum Apollineorum in commodum publicum, Basel: Impensis Joh. Jacobi Genathi [Johan Jakob Genath], →OCLC, page 48:
      Cacoëthe ulcera, ex dyſepulotis clariùs intelliguntur; quæ enim ex humorum confluxu, vel multorŭ, vel acrimum oriuntur, ita, ut locus affectus talem diſpoſitionem, quâ id, quod influit, bonum ſit licèt, tamen ipſum corrumpat, non habeat, Dyſepulota nomino: quæ verò dictam diſpoſitionem jam obtinent, præcipuo vocabulo cacoëthe, i.e. maligna, appello.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1814 October 21, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “To Mr. Justice Fletcher. Letter III.”, in Sara Coleridge, editor, Essays on His Own Times: Forming a Second Series of The Friend, volume III, London: William Pickering, published 1850, →OCLC, page 697:
      Coercere ipsos meum non erit, meum tamen erit ipsos prodere, quod fraudibus et imposturis toti scateant, et aliud fundamentum nullum, quam a cacoëthe plausus vulgaris et ignorantia enatum, teneant.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1831, Aulus Cornelius Celsus, translated by Alex[ander] Lee, Aur. Cor. Celsus on Medicine, in Eight Books, Latin and English. Translated from L[eonardo] Targa's Edition, the Words of the Text being Arranged in the Order of Construction. To which are Prefixed, a Life of the Author [by Johan Rhodius], Tables of Weights and Measures, with Explanatory Notes, etc. Designed to Facilitate the Progress of Medical Students, volume I, London: E. Cox, St. Thomas's Street, Southwark, →OCLC, page 99:
      Tolli nihil, nisi cacoethes potest: reliqua curationibus irritantur; et quo major vis adhibita est, eo magis.
      None of these can be removed except the Cacoethes: the rest are aggravated by every method of treatment; and the more energetic the remedies, the more irritable they become.
  2. Mania, especially for writing.
    • 1731, Jean de Launoy, Joannis Launoii [...] Opera omnia : ad selectum ordinem revocata : ineditis opusculis aliquot, notis nonnullis dogmaticis, historicis et criticis : auctoris vita : variis monumentis tum ad Launonium tum ad scripta ipsius pertinentibus, praefationibus cuique volumini affixis, indicibus locupletissimis : aucta et illustrata [...], volume II, part 2, Coloniae Allobrogum: Fabri & Barrillot, Sociorum; Marci-Michaelis Bousquet & Sociorum, →OCLC, page 689:
      Nam de me ita ſcribit: Quem ſatis notum paſſim Gallia tota inſanabile contradicendi cacoëthes fecit. Et primò quidem circa jejunii materiam, quæ eſt рræ manibus, quibus in Diſſertationis noſtræ locis inſanabile contradicendi cacoëthes apparet?
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1791, Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, translated by Martin Madan, A New and Literal Translation of the I, III, IV, VII, VIII, X, XIII, & XIV Satires of Juvenal, with Copious Explanatory Notes; by which this Difficult Satirist is Rendered Easy and Familiar to the Reader, Dublin: Printed by W. McKenzie, No. 33, College-Green, →OCLC, page 168:
      Nam ſi diſcedas, laqueo tenet ambitioſi / Conſuetudo mali: tenet inſanabile multos / Scribendi cacoëthes, & ægro in corde ſeneſcit.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

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Third-declension noun (neuter, parisyllabic non-i-stem).

singular plural
nominative cacoēthes cacoētha
genitive cacoēthis cacoēthum
dative cacoēthī cacoēthibus
accusative cacoēthes cacoētha
ablative cacoēthe cacoēthibus
vocative cacoēthes cacoētha

References

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  • “cacoethes”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “cacoethes”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • cacoethes in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
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