Dietetics
/ˌdaɪəˈtɛtɪks/noun
The science of applying nutrition to health and the treatment of disease.
The Greek roots
Literally: “the art of regimen”
The story of the word
δίαιτα never meant food alone. It was your whole way of living, and the Hippocratic regimen texts prescribe exercise, sleep, bathing, sex and climate alongside what you eat, on the theory that a physician manages the patient's day rather than dosing him. English narrowed diet to the plate, but dietetics kept a trace of the older breadth, which is why a dietitian asks about your shifts and your walking as well as your dinner. The parliamentary Diet is a different word entirely, from Latin dies, a day.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
In a sentence
She switched from clinical medicine to dietetics after working a renal ward.
Sports dietetics is mostly timing and iron, not exotic supplements.