An abscess or localized swelling containing pus, used in medieval and ancient medical terminology.
From Greek apostema, derived from apo- (away) + stasis (standing). The term literally means matter that has 'separated away' from normal tissue, emphasizing how medieval physicians understood infection as a departure from bodily health.
Aposteme appears hundreds of times in medieval surgical texts, often described in excruciating detail—surgeons would note the color, smell, and consistency of apostemes because these observations (before microscopes) were literally all they had to diagnose what was wrong.
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