Etymology Flashcards
Etymology of selected words from each module.
Ophthalm-
Language of origin?
Greek
(From Mod. 4)
cor-
core-
Etymology?
From “Kore”, Greek for “young girl” or “doll”
Because if you look into the pupil, you could see a small reflection of yourself or “doll”
(From Mod. 4)
pupill-
Etymology?
From “pupilla”, Latin for “doll”
same reasoning as cor- and core- (From Mod. 4)
ir-
irid-
Etymology?
Iris has lots of colour -> kind of like rainbow
Thus named after the ancient goddess of rainbows, Iris
(From Mod. 4)
cili-
ciliar-
Etymology?
Latin, “cilium” -> eyelid
(From Mod. 4)
cycl-
Etymology?
Greek, “kyklos” -> circle
(From Mod. 4)
kerat-
cerat-
cornu-
corne-
Etymology?
kerat- and cerat- are Greek
cornu- and corne- are Latin
All four mean horn; reasoning is because horns are hard and curved. The cornea is also hard and curved. Also see Mod. 7, where they actually mean horn.
(From Mod. 4)
scler-
Etymology?
Greek, “skleros” meaning “hard”
compare with “sclerosis”, which is hardening of a structure (From Mod. 4)
ot-
Etymology?
Greek, “ous” meaning ear
(From Mod. 4)
aur-
Etymology?
Latin, “auris” meaning ear
(From Mod. 4)
myring-
Etymology?
Latin, “membrane of a drum”
(From Mod. 4)
tympanum-
Etymology?
Greek
In Greek mythology, the goddess Cybele is always associated with a drum, who is always depicted with having a tympanum (which is also a drum)
(From Mod. 4)
Middle ear parts:
incud-
malle-
stapedi-
The bones of the middle ear looked like a blacksmith’s shop. Calls back to Hephaestus (Greek)/Vulcan (Roman), the god of fire and metal working.
All 3 are Latin terms
- malleus -> hammer
- incus -> anvil
- stapes -> stirrup
One should note that stapes is a newer term; stirrups were not invented during antiquity
(From Mod. 4)
Labyrinth-
Greek, “labyrinthos”
Comes from the Minotaur legend -> see notes
(From Mod. 4)
bi-
vit-
Etymology?
Greek (bi-)
Latin (vit-)
(From Mod. 4)
hom-
homin-
Etymology?
Latin, “homo”
(which contrary to the meaning means “man”)
(From Mod. 4)
anthrop-
Etymology
Greek, “anthropos”
Means person
(From Mod. 4)
iatr-
- iatry
- iatrics
Etymology?
Greek, “iatros” meaning “physician”
(From Mod. 4)
hygien-
Etymology?
Greek, meaning “health”
Comes from the Greek goddess Hygeia, daughter of Aslepius. The symbol assosiated with her is a flat bowl with a snake eating out of it -> this symbol of snake + bowl is called the Bowl of Hygeia, and is commonly associated with pharmacists and pharmacologists
(From Mod. 4)
-centesis
Etymology/origin?
The specific procedure refers to a really long needle to extract fluid -> “kentron”, which is a Greek word meaning “a goad”
A goad is a long sharp stick used to poke oxen in farming; this can have obvious parallels to the long needle used in centesis.
(From Mod. 4)
- ectopy
- ectopia
Etymology?
ec- -> “out”
top- -> “place”
so, they mean “out of place”
(From Mod. 4)
-ptosis
Etymology?
Greek, “pipto” meaning “to fall”
This is because prolapse is referring to an organ that “falls” out of place
(From Mod. 4)
- sepsis
- septic
Greek, “sepo” meaning “to rot”
(From Mod. 4)
encephalon
Etymology?
Greek; recall the previously learned material of prefixes and roots:
en-cephal-on
Literall “the thing inside (en-) the head (cephal-)”
(From Mod. 5)
poli-
Etymology?
Greek, literally means “grey”
*Note grey or gray is acceptable
(From Mod. 5)
thalam-
Etymology?
Greek, “thalamos” meaning “inner room”
In ancient Greece, houses had rooms where one would have to navigate corridors to access it. In other words, these doors were not easily accessible when coming in from outside. These “inner rooms” were called “thalamos” in Greek.
The idea is that the thalamos is the “inner room” of the brain because it is hard to get to.
(From Mod. 5)
hypothalam-
Etymology?
Greek, literally “under the thalamus”
See thalam-
(From Mod. 5)
Umbili-
Etymology?
Latin
(From Mod. 2)
omphal-
Etymology?
Greek
Story is basically, in the Greek world, Delphi was thought to be the centre of the Greek universe. It is at that location where Apollo’s temple is located. Thus, the greats called it the “omphalos at delphi”; basicaly, the navel of the world (or middle of the world). The middle of our belly button is thus also the “omphalos”
celi-
cel-
Latin; from “coelicacus” meaning “hollow”
This is because the anatomist saw the abdomen as a hollow area where stuff was stored, hence the name.
Throac-
Etymology?
Greek, from “Thorax”.
This was a type of Greek chest armor. The idea is that the chest/ribs acted as “armour” for the body, thus “Thorax” was appropriate.
cheir-
chir-
Greek, means hand
Fun aside; chiropractor and surgeon both mean someone who works with their hand. The that happened is that chir- + urg- = workng, so one who works with their hands in French was chirurgien. The chir turned into a s, and the ie replaced by an eo, making surgeon.
ped-
pod-
Etymology?
ped- is Latin
pod- is Greek
path-
- pathy
- pathos
Etymology?
Greek; all 3 are derived from “Pathos”, meaning “suffering”.
mater
(ex. Pia mater)
Etymology?
Latin, “mater” means “mother”
the meninges (dura/pia/arachnoid mater) are all protective layers of the brain. They protect the brain like a mother protects her child, hence the name.
dura-
Etymology?
Dura means “tough”
Comes from a translation of an Arabic phrase into Latin
Arachn-
Etymology?
Latin, “Arachn-“ means “spider web”
This is because the arachnoid mater is light and tough, like a spider web.
pia-
Etymology?
Latin, “pia-“ means “tender”
I assume because the bottom most layer is “tender” and soft because it is right above the gray matter
-carcinoma
Etymology?
Latin derivative, “cancer”, as in the crab in astrology
Greek derviative, “karkinos”, which is also the crab in astrology
(I.e. both refer to the constellation of cancer)
This is because Galen said that cancerous tumours “spread out” in the body like how the legs of the crab spread out from its body.
phren-
phrenic-
Etymology?
Greek, “Phren” which is “an organ of cognition located in the chest”
This arose because early anatomists belived that there was an organ in the chest that was used for cognition. We know today (and they found out too) that there was no such organ. However, they did find the muscle of the diaphragm. Thus, that muscle began being associated with phren.
rhin-
Language of Origin?
Greek
nas-
Language of Origin?
Latin
amyl-
Etymology?
Greek, “amyl” is greek for “a cake”
It supposedly looks like a cake. I don’t know how but apparently that’s the reason, so just accept it.
fec-
fecal-
Etymology?
Latin, for “wine sediment”
Back then, they drank weak wine since the ethanol would usually kill the germs and what not. However there is always some sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Somehow, it went from that to meaning feces/poop.
lact-
galact-
Language of origin for both?
“Lact-“ is Latin
“Galact-“ is Greek
Can think “L for Latin, G for Greek”
lith-
-lith
Etymology?
Greek for “stone”
calculus
Etymology?
Latin for stone
didym-
Etymology?
“didymos”, Greek
Meaning “twin”
orch-
Etymology?
And why is orchid named what it is?
“orchis”, Greek, meaning “testicle”
Orchids are called as such because the roots of a orchid look like testicles. Really.
balan-
Etymology?
From “balanos”, meaning “Acorn” - don’t worry about the language of origin
hymen-
Etymology?
From Hymenaios, the Greeko-Roman goddess of marriage
Always assosiated with a torch in hand
colp-
Etymology?
History?
“kolpos” - Greek, meaning “pocket or fold”
kolpos refers to how Greeks carried things around; since they wore robe-like garments, they only could carry things in the folds of that garment. Those were the “pockets” of their clothing.
This can refer to any pocket, ex. pocket in a coastline
So when refering the the hymen, we refer to the pocket like folds outside the vagina
vagin-
Etymology?
Literally “vagina” in Latin
Means “sword sheath”, if you know what i mean *WINK WINK*
Hyster-
uter-
Etymology?
Hyster- is Greek
uter- is Latin
Both mean “uterus”
metr-
Etymology?
Greek, meaning “mother”
Organ that makes a woman a mother
How did hyster- become involved with hysteria?
literally, it’s a “condition of the womb”. The current definition of “an exaggerated/uncontrollable emotion” comes from the Greeks’ theory of the “Wandering Womb”
Hippocrates’ is kind of responsible (because he is the first one who wrote it down). The idea was that the organs of the body like moving around. When the uterus wasn’t “anchored”, it would flaot around, pressing on other organs. This would (at least the believed) cause difficulties w/ breathing, blood flow, proper organ function, etc over a long period of time.
Hippocrates believed that the solution was sex; the womb is “dry” and needed to be lubricated
Other theory was to put perfumes near the mouth of the vagina (to make womb want to “come down”) or to do the opposite, put foul smelling things near the nose so that the womb would want to go down to avoid the stench
gymn-
Etymology?
“naked”
Greek
Called “gymnasium” as greeks would exercise naked
atri-
Etymology?
“atrium”, Latin for “room” (leading to another room, like an atrium in a room today)
Atrium in the heart is a cavity leading to another “room” (cavity) in the heart
candid-
Etymology and connections to politics today?
“bright white”, Latin
In rome, most people didn’t wear a toga; usually just cloth + belt. However, if you were a politician running for office, you would wear a very bright white toga. Since getting togas very white is very difficult and require lots of labour, wearing a bright white toga signifies that you have the wealth to afford the slaves to make the toga clean and white
candid- is the origin of the word candidate (in terms of politics) for this reason
stom-
stomat-
Language of origin?
Greek
or-
Language of origin?
Latin
-phage
Etymology?
“one that eats”
esophag-
oesophag-
Etymology?
“eso-“ = carrying
“phag-“ = eating
Therefore “esophag-“ = carrying what has been eaten”
phlyor-
Etymology?
“pylorus”, Greek, means “gatekeeper”
That is because the phloric sphincter is the “gatekeeper” for the intestines
duodenum
Etymology?
Latin, literall means 12, as in 12 fingers in length
Named by Herophilus of Alexandria
cec-
caec-
typhl-
Etymology?
“blind (pouch)”, because they hade no idea what the cecum did. So the anatomists called it a “blind pocket” because it didn’t seem to go anywhere.
sphincter-
Etymology?
“Sphincter”, Greek
See Mod. 1 and the myth of the Sphinx. Named after the way the Sphinx killed herself, by SQUEEZING her neck (and choking herself), just like how a sphnicter squeezes the orfice shut.
my-
myos-
Etymology?
Greek, means “mouse”
Because when ppl flex their muscles, it kinda looks like a mouse in the muscle. I don’t know it just is so go with it.
muscul-
Language of origin?
Latin
radi-
Etymology?
radius; because the bone looks like the spoke of a wagon wheel
Latin
coccyg-
Etymology?
coccynx, Greek. “the bill of a cuckoo bird”
tibi-
Etymology?
“flute”
Taken from tibia from animal, and made a flute
Don’t know if the flute came first or the bone came first
Likely that the name had a connection to sacrifices in the Roman world.
patell-
Etymology?
From Patella = small, flat plate used in roman sacrifice
Thus, the kneecap looks like a patella, hence the name
Assuming Latin
sacr- (sacrum)
Etymology?
Latin, sacrum meaning “sacred bone”
Compare with sacrifice, which literally means “making things sacred (in Latin)
Theories on origin of Sacrum?
- Possibly because it is the last bone to decay, hence it being “special”
- it protects the “sacred” organs of reproduction
- Potentially a “sacred” animal bone used in early sacrifices?
We don’t know for sure
phalang-
Etymology?
Comes from the Macedonian phalanx, which is a bunch of spears that are really long in formation (army formation). The finger bone kind of looks like the spears of the phalanx
- phylactic
- phylaxis
Etymology?
Greek, from “phylax”, which is a Greek guard
splen-
lien-
Language of origin?
Splen- (Grk), lien- (Lat)
Both mean spleen; spleen was theorized as force of black bile (which again, doesn’t exist)
icter-
Etymology?
From ikteros (Grk), which also means jaundice.
Comes from a name of a bird, which was a Greeco-Roman cure for jaundice.
oxy-
Ethymology?
Greek, meaning “sharp”
entom-
insect-
Etymology?
en- tom- (Greek)
in-sect- (Ltn)
Both mean “cut into segments”
plumb-
Etylmology?
Plumbum (Ltn), also mean lead.
Source of the word “plumb line”, and “plumbing”
nos-
morb-
Language of origin?
nos- (Grk)
morb- (Ltn)
ge-
Etymology?
From Gaia, Greek goddess of the earth
