effluvium

English

WOTD – 15 July 2012

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin effluvium (“an outlet”), from effluō (“flow out or away”), from ex (“out of, from”) + fluō (“flow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈfluːvi.əm/
• Rhymes: -uːviəm
• Hyphenation: ef‧flu‧vi‧um

Noun

effluvium (plural effluvia or effluviums)

1. A gaseous or vaporous emission, especially a foul-smelling one.
   • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XV, page 188:

     She was now bending over a huge light wood blaze, with a pipe of rude structure and no small dimensions in her mouth, from which the occasional puff went forth, filling the apartment with the unpleasant effluvia of the vilest leaf-tobacco.

   • 1906, O. Henry, The Furnished Room

     And he breathed the breath of the house—a dank savour rather than a smell—a cold, musty effluvium as from underground vaults mingled with the reeking exhalations of linoleum and mildewed and rotten woodwork.

2. A condition causing the shedding of hair.
   • 2000, Dr. Otto Braun-Falco, et al., “Diseases of hair”, in Dermatology, →ISBN, page 1136:

     Reversible hair loss or effluvium occurs following either endogenous or exogenous damage to anagen hair follicles […] .

Translations

gaseous or vaporous emission

• Armenian: գարշահոտություն (hy) (garšahotutʻyun), նեխահոտություն (hy) (nexahotutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: изпарение (bg) n (izparenie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臭氣／臭气 (zh) (chòuqì), 臭气 (zh) (chòuqì), 惡臭／恶臭 (zh) (èchòu), 恶臭 (zh) (èchòu)

• Finnish: katku
• French: effluvium (fr)
• German: Effluvium
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: αναθυμίαση (el) f (anathymíasi)
• Irish: eisilteach m
• Italian: effluvio (it)
• Russian: миа́зм (ru) m (miázm), (evaporation) испаре́ние (ru) n (isparénije)
• Spanish: efluvio (es)
• Swedish: utdunstning c, dunst (sv) c

condition causing the shedding of hair

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: kaljuuntuminen (fi)
• Swedish: effluvium n, håravfall (sv) n

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Latin

Etymology

From effluō (“flow out or away”), from ex (“out of, from”) + fluō (“flow”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /efˈflu.u̯i.um/, [ɛfˈfɫ̪uː̯iʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /efˈflu.vi.um/, [efˈfluːvium]

Noun

effluvium n (genitive effluviī or effluvī); second declension

1. The act of flowing out; discharge of liquid, outlet, efflux.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	effluvium	effluvia
Genitive	effluviī effluvī1	effluviōrum
Dative	effluviō	effluviīs
Accusative	effluvium	effluvia
Ablative	effluviō	effluviīs
Vocative	effluvium	effluvia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Synonyms

• (act of flowing out): effluus

Related terms

• effluēscō
• effluō
• effluus

Descendants

• Catalan: efluvi
• English: effluvium
• French: effluve

• Italian: effluvio
• Portuguese: eflúvio
• Spanish: efluvio

References

• “effluvium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “effluvium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• effluvium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.