Kynanche

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic medical term for a severe inflammation of the throat that makes swallowing and breathing difficult
2. An old name for a dangerous throat infection, such as quinsy or diphtheria, marked by swelling and choking
3. A historical term for a serious inflamed condition of the throat that once was feared for its suffocating effects

Etymology: Greek physicians named this severe throat condition from two words: "kyon," meaning dog, and "ankhein," meaning to strangle or choke. The literal sense was "dog-strangling," and the name probably reflected the way a sufferer's throat swelled and labored for breath, which the Greeks may have likened to a dog being throttled. Medical writers in the Roman world and later Europe kept the term, and English physicians borrowed it in the early modern period, when it was a standard name for conditions now classed under quinsy and other throat infections. "Ankhein" is a cousin of the Latin "angere," meaning to press tight or distress, which gave English "anxious" and "anguish." Kynanche therefore shares a root with words for suffocating pressure and mental distress, though the connection runs through ancient Greek and Latin rather than through any shift in English.

Synonyms: quinsy