Damiani Ernesto, Galassi Francesco M, Elice Martina
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, 90-237, Lodz, Poland.
Clin Rheumatol. 2023 Nov;42(11):3153-3158. doi: 10.1007/s10067-023-06688-4. Epub 2023 Sep 6.
Current scientific literature often defines gout as morbus dominorum, in agreement with the Greek-Roman representation of podagra (ποδάγρα, literally "foot-trap") as a consequence of gluttony and libertinage. Several authors place the origins of this expression with the Roman writer Suetonius, without however quoting any specific primary source. We have investigated this problem again and scrutinized primary sources ranging from the Roman World to the early Middle Ages. A search on the database of Latin texts for the expression morb* domin* failed to identify any positive correspondence, not only in Suetonius' works but also in those of other Latin authors. As a matter of fact, the expression morbus dominorum appeared for the first time in the literature on podagra in 1661 in Jakob Balde's book Solatium Podagricorum. Since then, this definition has been endlessly repeated in seventeenth- to eighteenth-century literature on gout. In 1866, while lecturing on the diseases of the elderly, the French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot first ascribed the expression morbus dominorum to Suetonius. However, this attribution is unsupported by primary sources. In conclusion, Suetonius never used the wording morbus dominorum, which was probably coined by Jakob Balde in 1661. The origin of this erroneous ascription dates to Jean-Martin Charcot's lectures in 1866. Key Points • Albeit a much-quoted sentence in rheumatology,the Roman author Suetonius never called gout morbusdominorum. • When referencing historical point in rheumatology, a careful perusal of the primary sources should beimplemented to avoid misquoting and false myths.
当前的科学文献常常将痛风定义为“权贵之病”，这与希腊 - 罗马时期将足痛风（ποδάγρα，字面意思是“足部之疾”）视为暴饮暴食和放荡不羁的后果的表述一致。几位作者认为这个表述的起源与罗马作家苏埃托尼乌斯有关，但却没有引用任何具体的原始资料。我们再次研究了这个问题，并仔细查阅了从罗马时代到中世纪早期的原始资料。在拉丁文本数据库中搜索“morb* domin*”这个表述，不仅在苏埃托尼乌斯的作品中，而且在其他拉丁作家的作品中，都未发现任何确切的对应内容。事实上，“权贵之病”（morbus dominorum）这个表述首次出现在1661年雅各布·巴尔德所著的《痛风的慰藉》一书中关于足痛风的文献里。从那时起，这个定义在17至18世纪关于痛风的文献中被不断重复。1866年，法国神经学家让 - 马丁·夏科在讲授老年疾病时，首次将“权贵之病”这个表述归功于苏埃托尼乌斯。然而，这一归因并无原始资料支持。总之，苏埃托尼乌斯从未使用过“权贵之病”（morbus dominorum）这个措辞，它可能是由雅各布·巴尔德在1661年创造的。这种错误归因的源头可追溯到让 - 马丁·夏科1866年的讲座。要点 • 尽管在风湿病学中常被引用，但罗马作家苏埃托尼乌斯从未将痛风称为“权贵之病”。 • 在引用风湿病学的历史观点时，应仔细研读原始资料，以避免错误引用和虚假传说。
