Etymology The term 'coma', from the Greek koma, meaning deep sleep, had already been used in the Hippocratic corpus (Epidemica) and later by Galen (second century AD). Subsequently, it was hardly used in the known literature up to the middle of the 17th century. The term is found again in Thomas Willis' (1621–1675) influential De anima brutorum (1672), where lethargy (pathological sleep), 'coma' (heavy sleeping), carus (deprivation of the senses) and apoplexy (into which carus could turn and which he localized in the white matter) are mentioned. The term carus is also derived from Greek, where it can be found in the roots of several words meaning soporific or sleepy. It can still be found in the root of the term 'carotid'. Thomas Sydenham (1624–89) mentioned the term 'coma' in several cases of fever (Sydenham, 1685).
Etymology The term 'coma' from the Greek koma meaning deep sleep had already been used in the Hippocratic corpus (Epidemica) and later by Galen (second century AD) Subsequently it was hardly used in the known literature up to the middle of the 17th century The term is found again in Thomas Willis' (1621–1675) influential De anima brutorum (1672) where lethargy (pathological sleep) 'coma' (heavy sleeping) carus (deprivation of the senses) and apoplexy (into which carus could turn and which he localized in the white matter) are mentioned The term carus is also derived from Greek where it can be found in the roots of several words meaning soporific or sleepy It can still be found in the root of the term 'carotid' Thomas Sydenham (1624–89) mentioned the term 'coma' in several cases of fever (Sydenham 1685)