Meanings
- not comparableobsoletemedicineOf or pertaining to the plague or contagious disorders.First known use 19th c.
Galen has not left us any distinct history of Loimic diseases; but there are numerous scattered observations in his works respecting them—[…]
1823, The Medico-chirurgical Review and Journal of Medical Science, volume 3, Burgess and Hill, page 444 more examples
The title of this translation (περὶ λοιµικῆς) and its preface prove that the Small-pox had been known to the antient Greeks under the name of Loimiké (the loimic or pestilential disease) and even divided into two distinct species. (pp. 20, 21.)
1821, Robert Willan, edited by Ashby Smith, Miscellaneous Works, T. Cadell, page 12Philo, the Jewish philosopher, gives a description of a ‘loimic’ pestilence which occurred during that century, and appositely conveys the mode of diffusion and the circumstances of the confluent small-pox.
1851, Edward Bascome, A History of epidemic pestilences, John Churchill (publisher) John Churchill, page 18[…] a euphemism, therefore, was needful to gild over and sweeten the surface of their hideous and poisonous essence, and none more emphatic than that of Abel, for the works of Cain, whose loimic virus has tinged even their admirer’s pen, and ever since shows him a cruel and sarcastic Mishellene, whereas he is as kind a Philhellene as any prejudiced mortal may be.
1867, S. J. Cassimati, The Greeks and Their Detractors, Clayton & Company, page 44A.D. 92. A loimic plague is described by the Jewish philosopher Philo, who believed it to have been caused by hot dust. ‘The clouds of dust suddenly falling on men and cattle, produced over the whole skin a severe and intractable ulceration. […]’
1871, George Fleming, Animal Plagues: Their History, Nature, and Prevention, Chapman & Hall, page 26
Origin
- Ancient Greekλοιμός
- Englishloimic
From Ancient Greek λοιμός (loimós) + -ic.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
loimic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loimic
“loimic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loimic. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “loimic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loimic.
Source: loimic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.