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Origin and history of constipation

constipation(n.)

c. 1400, "costiveness, bowel condition in which evacuations are obstructed or difficult" (more fully, constipacioun of þe wombe), from Late Latin constipationem (nominative constipatio), noun of state from past-participle stem of Latin constipare "to press or crowd together," from assimilated form of com- "together" (see con-) + stipare "to cram, pack, compress, surround" (see stiff (adj.)).

also from c. 1400

Entries linking to constipation

stiff(adj.)

Middle English stif, from Old English stif "rigid, inflexible, not easily bent," in physical senses often suggesting rigor mortis, from Proto-Germanic *stifaz "inflexible" (source also of Dutch stijf, Old Frisian stef, Old High German stif, German steif "stiff;" Old Norse stifla "choke").

The Germanic word is said to be from a PIE *stipos-, from the root *steip- "press together, pack, cram" (source also of Sanskrit styayate "coagulates," stima "slow;" Greek stia, stion "small stone," steibo "press together;" Latin stipare "pack down, compress," perhaps also stipes "post, tree trunk;" Lithuanian stipti "to stiffen, grow rigid," stiprus "strong;" Old Church Slavonic stena "wall"). However Boutkan suggests the possibility that the Germanic words are a metaphoric use from words for staff (n.).

By extension, "strong, violent; difficult to master or overcome:" In reference to battles and competitions, "fierce, stubborn, contested," mid-13c.; of winds or currents c. 1300; of liquor from 1813. In Middle English also "powerful, staunch, unmoving, resolute," and paired alliteratively with strong.

Of substances, "not fluid, thick and tenacious," early 15c. As "not natural or easy in movement," c. 1300. As "rigidly ceremonious, not easy or gracious in manner," c. 1600. To keep a stiff upper lip is attested from 1811. Related: Stiffly.

constipate(v.)

1530s, "to fill or cram the intestinal canal with fecal matter," in part a back-formation from constipation, in part from Latin constipatus, past participle of constipare "to press or crowd closely together." An earlier verb in this sense was constipen (late 14c.). General sense of "crowd or cram into a narrow compass" is from 1540s in English, Related: Constipated; constipating.

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irregularity
early 14c., "violation of Church rules governing admission to clerical office," from Old French irregularité (14c.) and directly from Medieval Latin irregularitas "irregularity," from irregularis "not regular" (see irregular (adj.)). Meaning "that which is irregular" is from late
symptom
"a departure from normal function or form as an expression or evidence of a disease," late 14c., sinthoma, from Medieval Latin sinthoma "symptom of a disease," altered from Late Latin symptoma, from Greek symptoma "a happening, accident, disease," from stem of sympiptein "to befa
dragon
mid-13c., dragoun, a fabulous animal common to the conceptions of many races and peoples, from Old French dragon and directly from Latin draconem (nominative draco) "huge serpent, dragon," from Greek drakon (genitive drakontos) "serpent, giant seafish," apparently from drak-, str
heredity
1530s, "inheritance, succession," from French hérédité, from Old French eredite "inheritance, legacy" (12c.), from Latin hereditatem (nominative hereditas) "heirship, inheritance, an inheritance, condition of being an heir," from heres (genitive heredis) "heir, heiress" (from PIE
club
c. 1200, "thick stick wielded in the hand and used as a weapon," from Old Norse klubba "cudgel" or a similar Scandinavian source (compare Swedish klubba, Danish klubbe), assimilated from Proto-Germanic *klumbon and related to clump (n.). Old English words for this were sagol, cyc
heresy
"doctrine or opinion at variance with established standards" (or, as Johnson defines it, "an opinion of private men different from that of the catholick and orthodox church"), c. 1200, from Old French heresie, eresie "heresy," and by extension "sodomy, immorality" (12c.), from La
prosperous
early 15c., "favorable, auspicious, tending to bring success;" late 15c., "flourishing, successful, making good progress in anything good or desirable;" from Anglo-French prosperous, prospereus, Anglo-Latin prosperosus, or directly from Old French prospereus (15c.), from prospere
romanticism
1803, "a romantic idea," from romantic + -ism. In literature, 1823, in a French context, in reference to a movement toward medieval forms (especially in reaction to classical ones), an association now more often confined to Romanesque. The movement began in German and spread to E
year
Old English gear (West Saxon), ger (Anglian) "year," from Proto-Germanic *jēr "year" (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German jar, Old Norse ar, Danish aar, Old Frisian ger, Dutch jaar, German Jahr, Gothic jer "year"), from PIE *yer-o-, from root *yer- "year, season" (source al
missionary
"one who is sent on a mission, person sent by ecclesiastical authority to labor for the propagation of the faith in a place where it has no indigenous organization," 1650s, from missionary (adj.). The phrase missionary position for "sexual intercourse arrangement in which the cou

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