Kussmaul

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. A specific type of deep, labored breathing often associated with metabolic acidosis, particularly diabetic ketoacidosis
2. A compensatory respiratory pattern developed to counteract acidosis by eliminating carbon dioxide
3. A clinical sign reflecting the body’s attempt to restore normal pH levels through rapid, deep breathing

Etymology: Kussmaul is named for Adolf Kussmaul, a nineteenth-century German physician, who is said to have described this deep, laboured breathing pattern. The word is a German surname, and its spelling appears in both "Kussmaul" and "Kußmaul" in German. Its origin, though, is not what it looks like. Read as a compound of "Kuss" ("kiss") and "Maul" ("snout" or "mouth"), it suggests something far more affectionate than a medical sign. That reading is a folk etymology: the name most likely derives from the Czech "Kosmály" or "Kosmál", and German speakers reshaped it into familiar words they could understand. The result is a case where the English-looking shape of the term misleads. A word that sounds like a playful pairing of kissing and mouth is in fact a respelled foreign surname, borrowed into medical language through the physician who gave his name to the pattern. Nothing in its meaning comes from the words it appears to contain.