Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Palsy
/ˈpɔlzi/noun
Paralysis or weakness of a part of the body, often with tremor.
The Greek roots
παρά
pará
beside, alongside
λύω
lýō
to loosen, release
Literally: “a loosening at the side”
The story of the word
Palsy and paralysis are one Greek word that entered English twice. παράλυσις went through Latin into Old French paralisie and was worn down to palsy by the fourteenth century; three hundred years later scholars borrowed the unweathered Greek form again, and that one took the medical high ground. Palsy survives in fixed phrases, cerebral palsy and Bell's palsy, and in the older sense of a shaking hand. The same λύω is inside analysis, a loosening apart, and catalyst, something that loosens a reaction along.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
Same family
paralysisanalysiscatalystelectrolysis
In a sentence
Her hands had the palsy that comes with age, so she signed with the pen braced against a ruler.