-ase

-ase

Greek Origin

 This chemical ending was derived from Greek word διάστασις/diastasis(=separation) 

 > διά-/dia-(=prefix denoting “through”, “apart” ) > δυο/dio(two) 
  + στάσις/stasis(=halt) > ίστημι/histimi(=stand).

 Coined/History

Diastase was the first enzyme discovered in 1833 by Anselme Payen (1795 – 1878) and Jean-Francois Persoz, chemist at a French sugar factory. The name derived from the Greek word "διάστασις" because they considered that the soluble extract which used cleaved (separated)  starch.  The Greek ending converted to French pronunciation to “ase”. 

Definition

-άση/-asy(=-ase) suffix added to the name of the substrate that the enzyme  hydrolyzes eg proteinase for protein or lipase for lipids.