σῆψις,
Doric dialect σᾶψις, εως, ἡ, (σήπομαι) fermentation, putrefaction, decay, αὐχμηραί τε νόσοι καὶ σήψιες [[ 5th c.BC: Empedocles Poeta Philosophus 121; ὑγρῶν σάψιες 5th-4th c.BC: Timaeus Locrus Philosophus 102c, compare 4th c.BC: Aristoteles Philosophus “Historia Animalium” 569a28; τὸ τέλος τῆς κατὰ φύσιν φθορᾶς σ. ἐστιν [prev. author] “Mete.” 379a8; σ. χλωρή 5th c.BC: Hippocrates Medicus “προρρητικόν” 1.99; σ. ὀστέων,= σφάκελος, Moer. p.342P. ] Refs 5th c.BC+]
__II (σήπω) the process by which the intestines reject that part of food which is not nutritious, opposed to πέψις, [[ 4th c.BC: Aristoteles Philosophus “de Generatione Animalium” 762a14, compare 2nd c.AD: Athenaeus Epigrammaticus 7.276d, and see at {σήπω} II.4. (Acc. to 2nd c.AD: Galenus Medicus 19.373 Empedocles said that πέψις took place σήψει.) ] Refs 4th c.BC+]