Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Hydrotherapy
/ˌhaɪdroʊˈθɛrəpi/noun
The use of water, usually in baths or pools, as physical treatment.
The Greek roots
ὕδωρ
hýdōr
water
θεραπεία
therapeía
attendance, cure
Literally: “water cure”
The story of the word
Vincenz Priessnitz, a farmer in Austrian Silesia with no medical training, built a spa around cold-water wrapping in the 1820s and drew thousands of patients. The practice was called hydropathy first, and the Greek-built hydrotherapy came later, when doctors wanted to keep the treatment and drop the quack reputation. A respectable name did most of that work.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
hydranthydrogendehydratetherapyhydraulic
In a sentence
After the knee replacement she was doing hydrotherapy twice a week in the hospital pool.