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Origin and history of trauma

trauma(n.)

1690s, "physical wound," medical Latin, from Greek trauma "a wound, a hurt; a defeat," from PIE *trau-, extended form of root *tere- (1) "to rub, turn," with derivatives referring to twisting, piercing, etc.

Originally an abnormal condition of the body produced by external violence, as opposed to one caused by poison, infection, bad habits. The sense in psychology of "psychic wound, unpleasant experience which causes abnormal stress" is by 1894 (William James, who describes it as "thorns in the spirit, so to speak," in "Psychological Review").

also from 1690s

Entries linking to trauma

traumatic(adj.)

1650s, "of or pertaining to wounds," from French traumatique and directly from Late Latin traumaticus, from Greek traumatikos "pertaining to a wound," from trauma (genitive traumatos; see trauma).

Also "produced by or adapted to the healing of wounds." The sense in psychology is by 1889, "pertaining to an emotional shock so deep as to disturb the behavior;" by 1962 in a weakened sense of "disturbing." Related: Traumatically.

traumatize(v.)

1893, "inflict trauma on," in reference to physical wounds; 1949 in the psychological sense, from Greek traumat-, stem of trauma (see trauma). Related: Traumatized; traumatizing; traumatism.

*tere-(1)

*terə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to rub, turn," with derivatives referring to twisting, also to boring, drilling, piercing; and to the rubbing of cereal grain to remove the husks, and thus to threshing.

It might form all or part of: atresia; attorn; attorney; attrition; contour; contrite; detour; detriment; diatribe; drill (v.) "bore a hole;" lithotripsy; return; septentrion; thrash; thread; thresh; throw; threshold; trauma; trepan; tribadism; tribology; tribulation; trite; triticale; triturate; trout; trypsin; tryptophan; turn.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit turah "wounded, hurt;" Greek teirein "to rub, rub away;" Latin terere "to rub, thresh, grind, wear away," tornus "turning lathe;" Old Church Slavonic tiro "to rub;" Lithuanian trinu, trinti "to rub," Old Irish tarathar "borer," Welsh taraw "to strike."

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    injury
    late 14c., "harm, damage, loss; a specific injury," from Anglo-French injurie "wrongful action" (Old French injure, 13c.), from Latin iniuria "wrong, an injustice, insult, unlawful violence, assault, damage, harm," noun use of fem. of iniurius "wrongful, unjust, unlawful," from i
    hurt
    c. 1200, "to injure, wound" (the body, feelings, reputation, etc.), also "to stumble (into), bump into; charge against, rush, crash into; knock (things) together," from Old French hurter "to ram, strike, collide with" (Modern French heurter), a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps f
    cauliflower
    The boxer's cauliflower ear, swollen and deformed by blunt trauma, is from 1907....
    shock
    The medical sense of "condition of profound prostration caused by trauma, emotional disturbance, etc." is by 1804 (it also...
    dislocation
    c. 1400, dislocacioun, "displacement of parts," originally of bones of the limbs, from Old French dislocacion (14c.), or directly from Medieval Latin dislocationem (nominative dislocatio), noun of action from past participle stem of dislocare "put out of place," from Latin dis- "
    hemorrhage
    c. 1400, emorosogie (modern form by 17c.), from Latin haemorrhagia, from Greek haimorrhagia, from haimorrhages "bleeding violently," from haima "blood" (see -emia) + rhagē "a breaking, gap, cleft," from rhēgnynai "to break, burst," from PIE *uhreg- "break." Related: Hemorrhagic..
    burn
    early 12c., brennen, "be on fire, be consumed by fire; be inflamed with passion or desire, be ardent; destroy (something) with fire, expose to the action of fire, roast, broil, toast; burn (something) in cooking," of objects, "to shine, glitter, sparkle, glow like fire;" chiefly
    bump
    1590s, "protuberance caused by a blow;" 1610s as "a dull-sounding, solid blow;" see bump (v.). The dancer's bump and grind is attested from 1940. To be like a bump on a log "silent, stupidly inarticulate" is by 1863, American English....1560s, "to bulge out;" 1610s, "to strike he
    wrench
    Old English wrencan "to twist," from Proto-Germanic *wrankjan (source also of Old High German renken, German renken "to twist, wrench," Old English wringan "to wring"), from PIE *wreng- "to turn" (source also of Sanskrit vrnakti "turns, twists," Lithuanian rengtis "to grow crooke
    bruise
    Old English brysan "to crush, pound, injure by a blow which discolors the skin," from Proto-Germanic *brusjan, from PIE root *bhreu- "to smash, cut, break up" (source also of Old Irish bronnaim "I wrong, I hurt;" Breton brezel "war," Vulgar Latin *brisare "to break"). It merged b

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