ἆσθμα

Traditionally taken from an earlier *ἄνσθμα (*ánsthma), potentially a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁- (“to breathe”) with an extension of unclear origin, followed by the suffix -μα (-ma) (from Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥). Compare ἄνεμος (ánemos, “wind”). However, Beekes is skeptical, as the Greek does not show the expected initial of *ἀνε- (*ane-), and prefers to take the word as an ad-hoc onomatopoeic formation + a suffix -θμα (-thma) also found in ἴθμα (íthma) (though Chantraine suspects that the -σ- (-s-) replaces the *-ε- (*-e-) in *ἀνε- (*ane-) for euphonic reasons).^[1]

ἆσθμᾰ • (âsthmă) n (genitive ᾱ̓́σθμᾰτος); third declension

1. short-drawn breath, panting
2. (medicine) asthma

• ἀσθμαίνω (asthmaínō, “pant, gasp for breath”)

• Greek: άσθμα (ásthma)
• → Latin: āsthma
  • Asturian: asma
  • Catalan: asma
  • French: asthme
    • → Romanian: astmă
    • → Turkish: astım
    • → Persian: آسم (âsm)
  • Italian: asma
  • Spanish: asma
  • → Polish: astma
  • → Dutch: astma
    • Afrikaans: asma
    • → Indonesian: asma
  • → Hungarian: asztma

• “ἆσθμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἆσθμα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἆσθμα”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἆσθμα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἆσθμα in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἆσθμα in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• “ἆσθμα”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011