It specifies the use of different massage techniques and how they should be used in the treatment of specific ailments, and injuries. Massage is referred to in 30 different chapters of the Nei Jing. The Nei-jing is a compilation of medical knowledge known up to that date, and is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine. īC 722–481: Huangdi Neijing is composed during the Chinese Spring and Autumn period.
History īC 2000: The word muššu'u ('massage') is written for the first time, and its use is described, in some Sumerian and Akkadian texts found at the beginning of the 21st century in ancient Mesopotamia. īy contrast, the ancient Greek word for massage was anatripsis, and the Latin was frictio. Others claim an origin from the Portuguese amassar 'knead,' from the Latin massa meaning 'mass, dough,' from the Greek verb μάσσω ( massō) 'to handle, touch, to work with the hands, to knead dough'. The word comes from the French massage 'friction of kneading,' which, in turn, comes from the Arabic word مَسَّ massa meaning 'to touch, feel'.
