Post History

I don't have any references for the first coinage of the term Patient. However, in grammars in the Latin tradition it is still customary to find the Latin terms _agens_ and _patiens_ rather than Agent and Patient. If those terms are earlier than their English counterparts, this explains it. Latin _patior_ can be glossed as 'to endure, suffer' but just indicates the passive undergoing of some event or action; it is not restricted to illness or misfortune.