The Etymology of Humor

The popular association between the word humor and all that is comical, laughable, or amusing, did not arise until the late 16th century (Ruch 7). Prior to that, the Latin term “humor” meant fluid, and was thusly applied to Hippocrates’ theories of bodily fluids and wellness (Martin 2; Ruch 7). Hippocrates believed that, in order to avoid illness, one must find a perfect equilibrium of these internal fluids: yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood (Martin 2; Ruch 7). Galen, a Greek physician who came long after Hippocrates, built upon this theory by assigning these four fluids—the four humors—specific temperaments: yellow bile, choleric; black bile, melancholic; phlegm, phlegmatic; and blood, sanguine (Martin 2; “Hippocrates, Galen & the Four Humours”).

Perhaps the most interesting of these temperaments is melancholy, associated with black bile, as it is hardly a term one would currently associate with the predominant meaning of humor (Timken-Zinkann 288). Melancholia, as defined by the Oxford American Dictionary is: deep sadness or gloom. Humor, on the other hand, while still attributed a number of different usages, is defined as: the quality of being amusing or comic. It is a wonder then that humor, once a medical term describing one of the four fluids (including that foreboding black bile), would eventually evolve into an everyday word with such light connotations and usage in both rhetoric and comedy. Surprisingly, while the transition took place over a long period of time, it happened more organically than one might think.

By the end of the 16th century, the original meaning of humor had fallen away along with the credibility of Hippocrates’ medical theory (Ruch 8). Ruch points out that, “As medical science progressed, humoral pathology was abandoned which should also have been a natural time for the word humour to disappear, as it lost its original significance…” However, the temperament theory was not simply dismissed and discarded for all eternity—as it maintains historical and anthropological substance—and neither was the term humor (Ruch 8). This marked the first sweeping change in the evolution of the word, as it was reappropriated as a descriptor for one’s general disposition—good humored meaning positive and lighthearted, bad humored meaning just the opposite (Martin 2; Ruch 8). Obviously, the meaning changed but did not deviate too far from its original origins.

Even when the word humor began to take on the definition that it is still assigned today (at the turn of the 16th century), the new meaning was—and still is—closely linked to the old. As stated earlier, Hippocrates and Galen believed that equilibrium of the humors was essential in order to achieve good health. Therefore, imbalance predicated illness; melancholy, in particular, came to be known as a symptom of mental illness (Timken-Zinkann 288). Based on this assumption (despite it being part and parcel of the already dismissed temperament theory), humor “expanded to include behavior deviating from social norms” (Ruch 8). That is, it was now a word used to describe someone who was strange, “uncommon” or “eccentric” as a side affect of fluid imbalance (Ruch 8).

It was generally considered okay, during this period, to laugh at those who were potentially suffering from true chemical imbalances, hence the final association of humor with laughter (Ruch 8). Thankfully though, the 17th century brought not only further evolution for the term humor but for humankind as well, when people began to draw their own conclusions that it was actually not okay to make fun of those who were different, and that even perfectly “balanced” individuals possess qualities and ideas that can be considered uncommon or eccentric (Martin 2; Ruch 9). It is because of the latter realization that one is thought to be “good humored,” when they are open to being made fun of as a consequence of such qualities and ideas (Ruch 9).

Works Cited

“Hippocrates, Galen & the Four Humours.” The Colour Works . N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.

Martin, Rod A. "Sense of humor." Positive psychological assessment: A handbook of models and measures (2003): 313-326. humoursummerschool.org. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.

Ruch, Willibald. "Foreword and overview: Sense of humor: A new look at an old concept." Humor research 3 (1998): 3-14. humoursummerschool.org. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.

Timken-Zinkann, R. F. “Black Bile. A Review of Recent Attempts to Trace the Origin of the Teachings on Melancholia to Medical Observations”. Medical History, vol. 12, no. 3, 1968, p. 288. nih.gov. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.