Diabetes? The word diabetes was coined by Aretaeus (81–133 CE) of Cappadocia. The word is taken from Greek diabaínein, and literally means "passing through", or "siphon", a reference to one of the diabetes major symptoms of excessive urine discharge. The word became "diabetes" from the English adoption of the medieval Latin diabetes. In 1675 Thomas Willis added mellitus to the name (Greek mel, "honey", sense "honey sweet") when he noted that a diabetic's urine and blood has a sweet taste (first noticed by ancient Indians). In 1776 it was confirmed the sweet taste was because of an excess of sugar in the urine and blood. The ancient Chinese tested for diabetes by observing whether ants were attracted to a person's urine, and called the ailment "sweet urine disease"; medieval European doctors tested for it by tasting the urine themselves, a scene occasionally depicted in Gothic reliefs. Passing abnormal amounts of urine...