Exsiccated/Exsiccation - was trying to think of a single English term that could be the equivalent of starvation; like if someone was dying of thirst, but I felt parched isn’t weighted enough to fulfill the gravity of it.

In latin exsiccare meant to dry up completely, so that’s how we got here I guess.

Thoughts? Is there a term I have forgotten that fits what I was looking for?

    • Godric@lemmy.world
      2·
      12 hours ago

      I like desiccation, it has such a lovely mouth-feel. I was reading an Patrick Obrien book recently, and I think someone was in danger of desiccation.

  • Krusty@quokk.auEnglish
    5·
    12 hours ago

    Let’s invent some!

    Mortidipsia - “thirst unto death”

    Xerothan - “dry death” note: than(atos)

    Siccomort - “death by drying out”

  • Donebrach@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    13 hours ago
    1. thesaurus
    2. starvation already covers that as it means a lack of nourishment (of which water is very much a part.)

    But if you’re looking for a phrase in prose “I am starving” and “I am parched” already carry the same weight.

      • SirSamuel@lemmy.world
        151·
        1 day ago

        I feel like the hungry -> starving process is just a longer version of the thirsty -> dehydrated process

        Does it make a difference that starvation takes longer than dehydration, but both result in eventual death? It takes weeks to die of starvation, it takes days to die of dehydration. Just because one manifests over a longer period of time and has a longer recovery period doesn’t make the other less deadly

        Also, I’m not sure if there are poisons a person can ingest that will strip vital nutrients and push a person into the starvation state (and if the poison does strip vital nutrients, the poisoned person already has bigger problems). But consuming alcohol will push a person into the dehydrated state without killing them.

        What if you compared the effects of dehydration and starvation as they progress, like, mild -> acute -> severe -> terminal?

        • Mild dehydration (day 1) kidneys conserve water, headache, fatigue
        • Mild starvation (week 1) blood sugar drops, liver increases glycogen breakdown, irritability, difficult to concentrate.

        Something like that?

        This post was brought to you by ADHD, and quite possibly Autism

  • quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    47·
    1 day ago

    Dehydration
    You don’t necessarily die from starvation the same way you don’t necessarily die from dehydration, but you can die from either of them.

  • chunes@lemmy.world
    25·
    1 day ago

    The old English word for this was forthirst. It was a direct counterpart to the modern “starve.” But it fell out of use because it happened so rarely in the British isles. I don’t know Arabic but I’m willing to bet they have a word for it…

  • Stern@lemmy.world
    35·
    1 day ago

    Strictly theres ‘dehydration’, though it does lack gravitas of ‘starving’. ‘Parched’ also exists but I feel like that falls in with ‘thirsty’ as a “Yea I want water but I’m not dying” situation.

    ‘Dessicated’ or ‘dessication’ could be used descriptively as it means dried out.

    • Godnroc@lemmy.worldEnglish
      151·
      1 day ago

      If you saw someone who staved to death, you may say their remains were emaciated; they died of starvation.

      If you saw someone who died from lack of water, you may say their remains are desiccated; they died of dehydration.

      • fizzle@quokk.auEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        I dont think that’s true in either case.

        You can be emaciated without dying, and you can starve to death without being emaciated. They might be somewhat related but not always occurring together.

        The same is true of dehydration and dessicated.

      • Stern@lemmy.world
        31·
        1 day ago

        ‘I feel dessicated’ and ‘I feel dehydrated’ both flow fairly well to me, though I’d feel more bougie saying the former unless I was analogizing in the same sentence