Diastase

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of starch into sugars
2. a type of substance found in malted grains, important for digestion
3. a biological agent that facilitates the conversion of carbohydrates into simpler compounds

Etymology: Diastase was named in 1833 by the French chemists Anselme Payen and Jean-François Persoz, who isolated the substance from malt and found it could convert starch into sugar. The name came from Ancient Greek "diástasis," meaning "separation," a word built from "diá," "apart," and "histánai," "to stand." Payen and Persoz chose it because the enzyme seemed to separate or loosen starch into simpler parts. The name carries an older notion of standing things apart. In Greek, "diástasis" was used for a dispute or split, a sense of parties who had stood away from one another, and the chemists borrowed that picture of separation for a process they could see but not yet explain. Enzymes were not yet understood as biological catalysts, so the name describes what the substance did, not what it was.