Editing Crisis (section)

==Etymology==

The [[English language|English]] word ''crisis'' was borrowed from the [[Latin Language|Latin]], which in turn was borrowed from the [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|el|κρίσις}} ''krisis'' 'discrimination, decision, crisis'.<ref name="oed">''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', 1893, [https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/44539 ''s.v.'' 'crisis']</ref> The noun is derived from the verb {{lang|el|κρίνω}} ''krinō'', which means 'distinguish, choose, decide'.<ref>[[Henry George Liddell]], [[Robert Scott (philologist)|Robert Scott]], [[Henry Stuart Jones]], ''[[A Greek–English Lexicon]]'', revised 1940,  ''s.v.'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dkri%2Fsis κρίσις], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=kri%2Fnw&la=greek&can=kri%2Fnw0&prior=h(&d=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=kri/sis&i=1#lexicon κρίνω]</ref>

In [[English language|English]], ''crisis'' was first used in a medical context, for the time in the development of a disease when a change indicates either recovery or death, that is, a turning-point. It was also used for a major change in the development of a disease.<ref name="oed"/> By the mid-[[seventeenth century]], it took on the figurative meaning of a "vitally important or decisive stage in the progress of anything", especially a period of uncertainty or difficulty,<ref name="oed"/> without necessarily having the implication of a decision-point.