MELANCHOLY (Gr. µe)tayXotia, from µEtas,

See also:

• BLACK
• BLACK, ADAM (1784-1874)
• BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN (1810–1883)
• BLACK, WILLIAM (1841-1898)

black, and Xotii, bile)  , originally a condition of the mind or body due to a supposed excess of black bile, also this black bile itself, one of the chief " humours " of the body, which were, according to medieval physiology, blood, phlegm, choler and melancholy (see HUMOUR) ; now a vague term for desponding grief . From the 17th century the name was used of the mental disease now known as " melancholia " (see INSANITY), but without any reference to the supposed cause of it .