Etymology
The name of the disease comes from:
- Diabetes - from L. diabetes, from Gk. diabetes "excessive discharge of urine," lit. "a passer-through, siphon," from diabainein "to pass through," from dia- "through" + bainein "to go"
- Insipidus - "without taste or perceptible flavor," from Fr. insipide, from L.L. inspidus "tasteless," from L. in- "not" + sapidus "tasty," from sapere "have a taste"
This is because patients experience polyuria (an excretion of over 2.5 liters of urine per day), and that the urine content does not have an elevated glucose concentration, as opposed to diabetes mellitus.
Although they shared a name, diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus are two entirely separate conditions with a separate pathogenesis. Both cause polyuria (hence the similarity in name) but whereas diabetes insipidus is a problem with the production of antidiuretic hormone (Cranial diabetes insipidus) or renal response to antidiuretic hormone (nephrogenic diabetes insipidus), diabetes mellitus causes polyuria via osmotic diuresis, due to the high blood sugar leaking into the urine, taking excess water along with it.
Read more about this topic: Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)