Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Catalepsy
/ˈkætəlɛpsi/noun
A condition in which the body goes rigid and holds a fixed posture, unresponsive to what is around it.
The Greek roots
κατά
katá
down, thoroughly
λῆψις
lêpsis
a seizing, taking
Literally: “a seizing down”
The story of the word
Greek κατάληψις meant a firm grip, and the Stoics used it as a technical term for the mind seizing a true impression, the moment knowledge locks in. Medicine took the same word in the opposite spirit, for a person seized and held by something outside their control. Physicians noted the limbs staying wherever they were placed, a sign later called waxy flexibility.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Medieval Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
epilepsynarcolepsysyllablecataplexy
In a sentence
He was found in a state of catalepsy, arm still raised, eyes open.