diabetes

[Mark Odegard]

>Seems like some other Greek words would have followed suit if were a
>phonological thing--Archimedes-- my brain is mush from too many student
>papers, someone else supply the rest.
>
>Dale Coye

As with Diomedes, or with the plurals of words like 'pericope'.

The medical term diabetes seems to be directly inherited from Greek via
Latin (meaning 'siphon', 'straddle'). The ancient physicians certainly knew
of it. The 'bee-tease' pronunciation would seem to be the learned one.

Has anyone mentioned yet that 'mellitus' does not follow the -itis pattern,
but rather, stresses the first syllable and rhymes the last with 'bus'.

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