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MELANCHOLY (Gr. µe)tayXotia, from µEtas, black, and Xotii, bile)
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MELANCHOLY (Gr. µe)tayXotia, from µEtas, 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.