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Etymology

The word diabetes (/ ˌ d aɪ. ə ˈ b iː t iː z / or / ˌ d aɪ. ə ˈ b iː t ɪ s /) comes from Latin diabētēs, which in turn comes from Ancient Greek διαβήτης (diabētēs), which literally means "a passer through; a siphon ". Ancient Greek physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia (fl. 1st century CE) used that word, with the intended meaning "excessive discharge of urine", as the name for the disease. Ultimately, the word comes from Greek διαβαίνειν (diabainein), meaning "to pass through", which is composed of δια - (dia -), meaning "through" and βαίνειν (bainein), meaning "to go". The word "diabetes" is first recorded in English, in the form diabete, in a medical text written around 1425.

The word mellitus (/ m ə ˈ l aɪ t ə s / or / ˈ m ɛ l ɪ t ə s /) comes from the classical Latin word mellītus, meaning "mellite" (i.e. sweetened with honey; honey-sweet). The Latin word comes from mell -, which comes from mel, meaning "honey"; sweetness; pleasant thing, and the suffix - ītus, whose meaning is the same as that of the English suffix "-ite". It was Thomas Willis who in 1675 added "mellitus" to the word "diabetes" as a designation for the disease, when he noticed the urine of a person with diabetes had a sweet taste (glycosuria). This sweet taste had been noticed in urine by the ancient Greeks, Chinese, Egyptians, and Indians.