cancrum oris
English
Etymology
From Latin cancrum ōris, from cancrum (“canker”) and ōris (“of the mouth, face”), genitive singular of ōs (“mouth, face”). The Latin phrase itself is first attested in a source that gives it as a translation of an English common name "mouth canker" or "canker of the mouth".
Noun
cancrum oris (uncountable)
- (medicine) noma, a gangrenous disease of the face
Latin
Etymology
From cancrum (“canker”) and ōris (“of the mouth, face”), genitive singular of ōs (“mouth, face”). First attested in 1649 (see below) in a source that gives it as a translation of an English common name "mouth canker" or "canker of the mouth", and in a context where it is accusative singular (and therefore cancrum could be the masculine accusative singular of cancer). Later authors' interpretation of it as a neuter singular form may be a grammatical blunder.[1][2]
Noun
cancrum ōris n (genitive cancrī ōris); second declension
- (medicine) cancrum oris
- 1649, Arnold Boate, Observationes medicae de affectibus omissis , (page 26):
- quando epidemice haec labes saevit ob quas causas Anglicum vulgus eam Mouth Canker, aut Canker of the Mouth, id est Cancrum Oris appellat: quod nomen de aliis quoque ulcerosis ac malignis Oris affectibus usurpat.
Inflection
Second-declension noun (neuter) with an indeclinable portion.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | cancrum ōris | cancra ōris |
| Genitive | cancrī ōris | cancrōrum ōris |
| Dative | cancrō ōris | cancrīs ōris |
| Accusative | cancrum ōris | cancra ōris |
| Ablative | cancrō ōris | cancrīs ōris |
| Vocative | cancrum ōris | cancra ōris |
References
- K.W. Marck (2003) "Cancrum oris and noma: some etymological and historical remarks", British Journal of Plastic Surgery 56(6):524-7
- B.H. Coates (1826) "Description of the Gangrenous Ulcer of the Mouths of Children." North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826