διαβήτης

From δῐᾰβαίνω (diabaínō, “to step across, pass over”) +‎ -της (-tēs, “-er, -or”, agent noun suffix).

δῐᾰβήτης • (diabḗtēs) m (genitive δῐᾰβήτου); first declension

1. pair of compasses (so called from its outstretched legs)
   • 423 BCE, Aristophanes, The Clouds 178:

     Κατὰ τῆς τραπέζης καταπάσας λεπτὴν τέφραν, κάμψας ὀβελίσκον, εἶτα διαβήτην λαβών, ἐκ τῆς παλαίστρας θοἰμάτιον ὑφείλετο.

     Katà tês trapézēs katapásas leptḕn téphran, kámpsas obelískon, eîta diabḗtēn labṓn, ek tês palaístras thoimátion hupheíleto.

     He sprinkled fine ashes on the table, and bent a little spit, and then took it as a pair of compasses and filched a cloak from the Palaestra.

   1. carpenter's or stonemason's ruler
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Philebus 56b:

        Κανόνι γὰρ οἶμαι καὶ τόρνῳ χρῆται καὶ διαβήτῃ καὶ στάθμῃ καί τινι προσαγωγίῳ κεκομψευμένῳ.

        Kanóni gàr oîmai kaì tórnōi khrêtai kaì diabḗtēi kaì státhmēi kaí tini prosagōgíōi kekompseuménōi.

        For the artisan uses a rule, I imagine, a lathe, compasses, a chalk-line, and an ingenious instrument called a vice.

2. siphon
   • 10 CE – 70 CE, Hero, Pneumatica 1.29
3. (pathology) diabetes
   • 1 CE – 100 CE, Aretaeus, De Causis et Signis Diuturnorum Morborum 2.2:

     Θώϋμα τὸ διαβήτεω πάθος, οὐ κάρτα ξύνηθες ἀνθρώποισι· σαρκῶν καὶ μελέων ἐς οὖρον ἡ ξύντηξις· ὑγρὴ καὶ ψυχρὴ, ὅκως ἐν ὕδρωψι, αἰτίη.

     Thṓüma tò diabḗteō páthos, ou kárta xúnēthes anthrṓpoisi; sarkôn kaì meléōn es oûron hē xúntēxis; hugrḕ kaì psukhrḕ, hókōs en húdrōpsi, aitíē.

     Diabetes is a remarkable disorder, and not one very common to man. It consists of a moist and cold wasting of the flesh and limbs into urine, from a cause similar to that of dropsy.

• δῐᾰβήτῐνος (diabḗtinos, adjective)
• δῐᾰβητῐ́ζομαι (diabētízomai, verb)

• δῐᾰβᾰ́της (diabátēs)

• → Latin: diabētēs
  • → English: diabetes

• “διαβήτης”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press

From Ancient Greek διαβήτης (diabḗtēs) from διαβαίνω (diabaínō, “walk, pass through”).

διαβήτης • (diavítis) m (plural διαβήτες)

1. (geometry) pair of compasses (usually called a compass; an instrument used to draw circles)
2. (medicine) diabetes, diabetes mellitus

   Synonyms: σάκχαρο (sákcharo), ζαχαροδιαβήτης (zacharodiavítis)

• διαβήτης on the Greek Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^el