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ætiology|iːtɪˈɒlədʒɪ, ˈɛtɪ-|
Also 7 aiti-, 8 eti-.
[ad. L. ætiologia, a. Gr. αἰτιολογία giving a cause, f. αἰτία cause, reason + -λογία discourse: see -logy.]
1. The assignment of a cause, the rendering of a reason; also, the reason annexed, the wherefore of a command or utterance.
a1555Bradford Wks. 44 He addeth this ætiology or cause, saying, ‘For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 1615Bp. Hall Contempl. iv. xi. (1853) 279 And consider with me the topography, the aitiology, the chronography of this miracle. 1716Halley in Phil. Trans. XXIX. 406 The Etiology of a matter so uncommon, never before seen by my self. 1771Woulfe ibid. LXI. 115 ætiology of the Operation. Mod. Title of a lecture: ‘The ætiology of the drinking customs.’
2. The science or philosophy of causation; that part of philosophy which treats of the demonstration of causes; the part of any special science which speculates on the causes of its phenomena.
1660T. Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 486/2 Whereby he conceives all Dogmatick ætiology may be refelled, as defective. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The sceptics were professed opponents of all ætiology, or argumentation from causes. 1877Huxley Anat. Inv. An. Introd. 35 ætiology has for its object the ascertainment of the causes of these facts, and the explanation of biological phenomena, by showing that they constitute particular cases of general physical laws.
3. That branch of medical science which investigates the causes and origin of diseases; the scientific exposition of the origin of any disease.
1684tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. xvi. 562 Nor will it be easie..to inquire the particular reasons of this Ail, nor to proceed in this Aitiology. 1737H. Bracken Farriery I. vi. 36 The Aetiology or Doctrine teaching (or rather pretending to teach) us the Knowledge of the Causes of Distempers. 1881Huxley in Nature No. 615. 346 The important part played by parasitic organisms in the ætiology of disease. |