Catalepsies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A state characterized by a trance or seizure-like condition with loss of sensation and voluntary movement
2. A condition involving muscular rigidity and unresponsiveness, often resembling death
3. An abnormal state of rest in which a person appears to be in a deep sleep but is actually alive and can be roused under certain conditions

Etymology: "Catalepsies" is simply the plural of "catalepsy," so the history belongs to the singular. That word comes from Late Latin "catalepsia," borrowed from Greek "katalēpsis," meaning "seizure" or "a grasping," from "katalambanein," "to seize hold of." The Greek sense of seizing is what gave the condition its name: a patient's body seems to be gripped and held in place, sometimes in a rigid posture that cannot be easily moved. English adopted the word in medical writing, where it described episodes in which a person loses voluntary movement and sensation while remaining conscious or appearing unconscious. The Greek root's idea of being taken hold of by an outside force stayed with the term, even though modern medicine now treats the condition as a symptom of other disorders rather than a disease in its own right.