rheumatic

The word 'rheumatic' originates from the ancient Greek concept of bodily fluids. The Greek noun 'rheuma' meant 'a flowing' or 'stream', derived from the verb 'rhein', 'to flow'. In the humoral theory of medicine dominant from antiquity through the Middle Ages, it was believed that an excess or imbalance of certain bodily fluids, or 'rheum', could flow into the joints and cause pain and stiffness. The suffix '-atic', borrowed via Latin from Greek '-atikos', forms adjectives meaning 'pertaining to'. Thus, 'rheumatic' literally means 'pertaining to a flow (of humors)', a logic that evolved from a literal description of fluid movement to the modern abstract medical term for conditions characterized by pain in the joints and muscles.