Editing Spleen (section)

== Society and culture ==
There has been a long and varied history of misconceptions regarding the physiological role of the spleen, and it has often been seen as a reservoir for juices closely linked to digestion.<ref name=Riva2019>{{cite journal |vauthors=Riva MA, Ferraina F, Paleari A, Lenti MV, Di Sabatino A |title=From sadness to stiffness: the spleen's progress |journal=Internal and Emergency Medicine |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=739–743 |date=2019 |pmid=31152307 |doi=10.1007/s11739-019-02115-2 |s2cid=172137672 |url=}}</ref> In various cultures, the organ has been linked to [[melancholia]], due to the influence of [[ancient Greek medicine]] and the associated doctrine of [[humourism]], in which the spleen was believed to be a reservoir for an elusive fluid known as "black bile" (one of the four humours).<ref name=Riva2019/> The spleen also plays an important role in [[traditional Chinese medicine]], where it is considered to be [[Zang-fu|a key organ]] that displays the [[Yin and yang|Yin]] aspect of [[Earth (wuxing)|the Earth element]] (its Yang counterpart is the stomach).  In contrast, the [[Talmud]] (tractate Berachoth 61b) refers to the spleen as the organ of [[laughter]] while possibly suggesting a link with the humoral view of the organ.

Etymologically, ''spleen'' comes from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|σπλήν}} (''splḗn''), where it was the idiomatic equivalent of [[Heart (symbolism)|the heart]] in modern English. [[Persius]], in his satires, associated ''spleen'' with immoderate laughter.<ref name="Stanley2002"/> The native [[Old English]] word for it is '''{{wikt-lang|en|milt}}''', now primarily used for animals; a [[loanword]] from [[Latin]] is {{wikt-lang|en|lien}}.

In English, [[William Shakespeare]] frequently used the word ''spleen'' to signify [[Depression (mood)|melancholy]], but also [[wikt:caprice|caprice]] and merriment.<ref name="Stanley2002"/> In ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', he uses the spleen to describe Cassius's irritable nature:

<blockquote><poem>Must I observe you? must I stand and crouch
Under your testy humour? By the gods
You shall digest the venom of your spleen,
Though it do split you; for, from this day forth,
I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
When you are waspish.<ref>''Julius Caesar'' by William Shakespeare Act 4:1</ref></poem></blockquote>

The spleen, as a byword for melancholy, has also been considered an actual disease.<ref name=Bynum2002>{{cite journal |vauthors=Bynum B |title=The spleen |journal=Lancet |volume=359 |page=1624 |date=2002 |issue=9317 |pmid=12048004 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(02)08479-9 |s2cid=33529100 |url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(02)08479-9/fulltext |url-access=registration}}</ref> In the early 18th century, the physician [[Richard Blackmore]] considered it to be one of the two most prevalent diseases in England (along with [[Tuberculosis|consumption]]).<ref name=Bynum2002/> In 1701, [[Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea|Anne Finch]] (later, Countess of Winchilsea) had published a [[Ode|Pindaric ode]], ''The Spleen'', drawing on her first-hand experiences of an affliction which, at the time, also had a reputation of being a fashionably [[upper-class]] disease of the English.<ref name="Rogers1989">{{cite journal |last1=Rogers KM |title=Finch's "Candid Account" vs. Eighteenth–Century Theories of the Spleen |journal=Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature |date=1989 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=17–27 |jstor=24780450 |issn=0027-1276}}</ref>  Both Blackmore and [[George Cheyne (physician)|George Cheyne]] treated this malady as the male equivalent of "[[Vapours (disease)|the vapours]]", while preferring the more [[Learned medicine|learned]] terms "[[hypochondriasis]]" and "[[hysteria]]".<ref name=Bynum2002/><ref>[[George Cheyne (physician)|Cheyne, George]]: ''The English Malady; or, A Treatise of Nervous Diseases of All Kinds, as Spleen, Vapours, Lowness of Spirits, Hypochondriacal and Hysterical Distempers with the Author's Own Case at Large'', Dublin, 1733. Facsimile ed., ed. Eric T. Carlson, M.D., 1976, Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, {{ISBN|978-0-8201-1281-7}}</ref><ref>[[Richard Blackmore|Blackmore, Richard]]: ''Treatise of the spleen and vapors''. London, 1725</ref> In the late 18th century, the [[German language|German]] word ''Spleen'' came to denote [[Eccentricity (behavior)|eccentric]] and hypochondriac tendencies that were thought to be characteristic of English people.<ref name="Stanley2002">{{cite book |author=Stanley Eric | authorlink=Eric Stanley |editor=Coleman J, McDermott A |title=Historical dictionaries and historical Dictionary Research: Papers from the international conference on historical lexicography and lexicology, at the University of Leicester, 2002 |date=2002 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |location=Germany |isbn=978-3-11-091260-9 |pages=170–171 |url= |language=en |chapter=Polysemy and synomyny and how these concepts were understood from the eighteenth century onwards in treatises, and applied dictionaries of English}}</ref>

In [[French language|French]], "splénétique" refers to a state of pensive sadness or melancholy. This usage was popularised by the poems of [[Charles Baudelaire]] (1821–1867) and his collection ''[[Le Spleen de Paris]]'', but it was also present in earlier [[French Romanticism|19th-century Romantic literature]].

=== Food ===
The spleen is one of the many organs that may be included in [[offal]]. It is not widely eaten as a principal ingredient, but cow spleen sandwiches are eaten in [[Sicily|Sicilian]] cuisine.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2010/05/spleen-sandwiches-an-italian-tradition/39761/|publisher=The Atlantic|access-date=2022-01-03|date=2010-05-03|first=Tejal|last=Rao|title=Spleen Sandwiches: An Italian Tradition}}</ref> Chicken spleen is one of the main ingredients of [[Jerusalem mixed grill]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/dining-out-mixed-jerusalem-grill-in-tel-aviv-1.216305 |title=Dining Out / Mixed Jerusalem grill in Tel Aviv |first=Daniel|last=Rogov |publisher=Haaretz |date=2007-03-22 |access-date=2022-01-03}}</ref>