phlegma

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek φλέγω (phlégō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Hellenic *-mə

Ancient Greek -μα (-ma)

Ancient Greek φλέγμα (phlégma)bor.

Latin phlegma

Borrowed from Ancient Greek φλέγμα (phlégma).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpʰɫɛɡ.ma]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈflɛɡ.ma]

Noun

phlegma n (genitive phlegmatis); third declension

1. phlegm

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	phlegma	phlegmata
genitive	phlegmatis	phlegmatum
dative	phlegmatī	phlegmatibus
accusative	phlegma	phlegmata
ablative	phlegmate	phlegmatibus
vocative	phlegma	phlegmata

Descendants

• Catalan: flegma
• Galician: freima, flegma
• Italian: flemma
  • French: flemme, flegme
• Old French: fleume
  • → Middle Dutch: fleume, fleuma
    • Dutch: fluim
      • Afrikaans: fluim
• Polish: flegma
• Portuguese: flegma, fleuma, fleima
• Romanian: flegmă
• Spanish: flema

References

• “phlegma”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “phlegma”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Noun

phlegma f (plural phlegmas)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of fleuma