Paralysis

The story of the word

Greek doctors described one side of the body coming unfastened, which is an honest account of what a stroke looks like from the outside. The same noun took a rougher road through Old French as parlesie and reached English as palsy, so paralysis and palsy are one Greek word borrowed twice, centuries apart, from different stages of Latin. λύω, to loosen, also sits inside analysis and catalyst.

How it travelled

Ancient Greek → Latin → English

First recorded

16th century