Etymology

diastase

D2I1A1S1T1A1S1E1

Today it means: Any one of a group of enzymes which catalyse the breakdown of starch into maltose; mostly amylases (α-amylase and β-amylase). Full definition →

Ancient Greek δῐᾰ́στᾰσῐς (dĭắstăsĭs) ← Proto-Hellenic *hístāmi ← Proto-Indo-European *stísteh₂ti
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  2. Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
  3. Proto-Indo-European*dwís
  4. Ancient Greekδιά (diá)
  5. Ancient Greekδῐᾰ- (dĭă-)
  6. Proto-Indo-European*steh₂-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*stísteh₂ti
  8. Proto-Hellenic*hístāmi
  9. Ancient Greekῐ̔́στημῐ (hĭ́stēmĭ)
  10. Ancient Greekδῐῐ̈́στημῐ (dĭĭ̈́stēmĭ)
  11. Ancient Greekδῐᾰ́στᾰσῐς (dĭắstăsĭs)
  12. English todaydiastase

From Ancient Greek διάστασις (diástasis, “separation”).

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekδιάστασις all →

diastasis

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.