Greek and Latin in Scientific Terminology, Lecture 6

Andrew Dunning

16 October 2014

Final Exam

Date and Location

  • Wednesday, 17 December 2014
  • 9 am to 11 am (2 hours)
  • TFC Cafeteria (Davis Building)

Content

  • The exam is cumulative, drawing on material from both the Greek and Latin portions of the course.

Evolving Meanings

Change and Decay

  • Meaning is not static or straightforward. As we have seen, one word does not always mean the same thing every time it is used.
  • Just like meanings can vary from one occurrence of a word to another, they can vary over time.

Metaphor

  • META-PHOR (Greek μεταϕορά) is a transfer of meaning.
  • Thus ‘gland’ comes from the Latin word for ‘acorn’, but structures that were thought to look like acorns took that name as well, owing to the resemblance.

Mythology

  • Many English words, both in technical and non-technical language, take their name from Classical Mythology.
  • Thus we have ‘aphrodisiac’ from Aphrodite, ‘narcissism’ from Narcissus, and the ‘Achilles tendon’ from the hero of the Iliad.

The History of Science

  • Science itself is not static. Not only are new discoveries made all the time, but old theories and, indeed, entire paradigms are sometimes overthrown.
  • Many words are left behind by discarded theories. Thus we have ‘sanguine’ and ‘melancholic’ from the theory of the four humours.
  • Similarly, ‘disaster’, ‘lunacy’ and ‘jovial’ can all be traced to the belief in astrology.

Linguistic change

  • Not only can the meanings of words change substantially, but so can their forms. Not all words with a Greek or Latin origin were deliberately coined by scholars; some of them just evolved over time, and with this comes change.
    • Thus ‘date’ (the fruit, that is) comes from the Greek DACTYL.
    • ‘Almond’ actually comes from the Greek AMYGDALA.
    • ‘Frenzy’ was originally PHREN-itis.
    • ‘Gillyflower’ was originally KARYO-PHYLL-on, or ‘nut-leaf’

Specialization of Meaning

disease

  • Originally referred to any lack of ease.
  • Now a discomfort caused by illness.

physics

  • originally ‘the study of the natural universe’
  • now ‘the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy’

radish

  • originally ‘root’ (Latin radix, radic-)
  • now ‘a swollen pungent-tasting edible root, especially a variety which is small, spherical, and red, and eaten raw with salad’

insanity

  • originally ‘lack of health’ (Latin insanus, from in- ‘not’ + sanus ‘healthy’)
  • now ‘the state of being seriously mentally ill’

grand mal

  • in French, simply means ‘great sickness’
  • used specifically to mean ‘a serious form of epilepsy with muscle spasms and prolonged loss of consciousness’

Generalization of Meaning

excruciating

  • originally referred to literal torture on a cross (Latin crux, cruc- ‘a cross’)
  • now ‘intensely painful’ or even ‘very embarrassing, awkward, or tedious’

eradicate

  • originally ‘to tear up by the roots’
  • now ‘destroy completely; put an end to’

crescent

  • originally referred to the moon; from Latin crescere, ‘grow’
  • can now refer to anything shaped like the new moon

Diseases Named from Symptoms

hydrophobia

  • rabies, especially in humans
  • Technically, however, the word only describes a symptom: an extreme or irrational fear of water.

diabetes

  • lit. ‘syphon’; from Greek dia- ‘through’ + BA- ‘to go’
  • The Greek physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia seems to have coined the term διαβήτης (from διαβαίνειν, to pass through), referring to the urinary discharge that accompanies the disease.

diphtheria

  • an acute and highly contagious bacterial disease causing inflammation of the mucous membranes, formation of a false membrane in the throat which hinders breathing and swallowing, and potentially fatal heart and nerve damage by a bacterial toxin in the blood
  • from Greek διϕθέρα ‘skin, hide’

cirrhosis

  • a chronic disease of the liver marked by degeneration of cells, inflammation, and fibrous thickening of tissue
  • from Greek κιρρός ‘tawny’ (because this is the colour of the liver in many cases)

myxoedema

  • swelling of the skin and underlying tissues giving a waxy consistency, typical of patients with underactive thyroid glands
  • Greek MYX- ‘mucus’ + OEDEMA- ‘swelling’

hemorrhoid

  • a swollen vein or group of veins in the region of the anus
  • from Greek αἱμορροΐδες ‘bleeding’ (i.e. of the veins, ϕλέβες), from HAEM- ‘blood’ + an element related to -RRH ‘to flow’.

shingles

  • a painful acute inflammation of the nerve ganglia, with a skin eruption often forming a girdle around the middle of the body.
  • from Latin cingulum ‘girdle’ (cingere ‘gird’)

leprosy

  • a contagious disease that affects the skin, mucous membranes, and nerves, causing discolouration and lumps on the skin and, in severe cases, disfigurement and deformities
  • from Latin lepra ‘scaly’

Words You Might Not Recognize

date

  • the fruit is from Greek DACTYL- ‘finger’ (because of the finger-like shape of its leaves)

dropsy

  • old-fashioned or less technical term for oedema
  • shortening of Middle English idropesie (i.e. hydropsy) from Greek ὕδρωψ ‘dropsy’, from HYDR- ‘water’

sciatica

  • pain affecting the back, hip, and outer side of the leg, caused by compression of a spinal nerve root in the lower back, often owing to degeneration of an intervertebral disc
  • from Greek ISCHI- ‘relating to the hips, subject to sciatica’

elixir

  • a magical or medicinal potion
  • We have the word via medieval Latin from Arabic al-‘iksīr,* from al ‘the’ + ‘iksīr, probably from Greek xērion* ‘powder for drying wounds’ (from xēros ‘dry’)

frenzy

  • from Greek PHREN- ‘mind’
  • in ancient Greece, ‘phrenitis’ (an inflammation of the brain)

almond

  • from Greek AMYGDAL-

ague

  • malaria or another illness involving fever and shivering
  • from medieval Latin acuta (febris) ‘acute (fever)’

grotto

  • a small picturesque cave, especially an artificial one in a park or garden
  • via Latin from Greek CRYPT-, ‘hidden’

gillyflower

  • via medieval Latin from Greek καρυόϕυλλον (from KARY- ‘nut’ + PHYLL- ‘leaf’). The ending was altered by association with flower, but gilliver survived in dialect

Key Roots

ADELPH-

  • ‘brother’, ‘sibling’
  • PHIL-ADELPH-ia; IS-ADELPH-ia, conjoined twins united by unimportant tissues, with each body being normal in the development of all essential organs; ADELPH-ous, joined together in bundles, as filaments of stamens

COLL(A)-

  • ‘glue’
  • COLLA-GEN, the main structural protein found in animal connective tissue, yielding gelatin when boiled; COLLO-oid, a gelatinous substance which does not readily diffuse through animal or vegetable membrane

EC- (OEC-, OEK-), OIK-, OIC-

  • ‘house’
  • ECO-nomy; ECO-logy, that part of biology which deals with the relationship between organisms and their surroundings; GYN-OEC-ium, pistils, carpels and female organs of a flower

OPISTH-

  • ‘behind’
  • OPISTH-ion, median point of posterior margin of the foramen magnum (i.e., the opening in the skull for the spinal cord); OPISTH-ODONT, having back teeth only; OPISTHO-TONOS, a spasm of the muscles causing backward arching of the head, neck, and spine

PHY-

  • ‘to grow’
  • apo-PHY-sis, a natural protuberance from a bone, or inside the shell or exoskeleton of a sea urchin or insect, for the attachment of muscles; DACTYLO-sym-PHY-sis, syndactyly (having some or all digits united, naturally or as a malformation)

POR-

  • ‘passage’, ‘pore’
  • POR-ous; POLY-POR-in, antibiotic derived from POLY-PORE fungus; POR-ENCEPHAL-itis, encephalitis with a tendency to form cavities

PTY-; PTYAL-

  • ‘to spit’; ‘saliva’
  • PTYAL-in, a form of amylase found in the saliva of humans and some other animals; PTYALO-CELE, a cyst containing saliva; PYO-PTY-sis, expectoration of pus

STIG-

  • ‘pricking’, ‘mark’, ‘point’
  • STIG-ma; a-STIG-mat-ism, the faulty vision which results from irregularity in the curvature of one or more refractive surfaces of the eye, preventing rays of light from coming to a single focus; OSTEO-STYX-is, surgical puncturing of a bone (here X = G+s)

TEL(E)-

  • ‘completion’, ‘end’, ‘purpose’
  • TELOS; TELEO-logy; a-TELO-GNATH-ia, imperfect development of a jaw; TELO-KINE-sis, last stage of mitosis

XYL-

  • ‘wood’
  • XYLO-PHONE; XYLO-PHYTE, a woody plant; XYL-oma, a tree tumour; XYLO-TOM-ous, able to bore or cut wood; XYLO-PHAG-ous, wood-eating

ALEX-

  • ‘to ward off’
  • ALEX-ANDER; ALEX-in, a complex substance with the capacity, in cooperation with antibody and cellular elements, to destroy a variety of pathogenic organisms and other foreign substances

BRONCH(I)-

  • ‘windpipe’, ‘air tube’
  • BRONCH-ADEN-itis, inflammation of bronchial lymph nodes; BRONCH-itis, inflammation of mucous membrane of bronchial tubes

CHLAMYD-

  • ‘cloak’, ‘envelope’
  • CHLAMYD-ia, a very small parasitic bacterium which, like a virus, requires the biochemical mechanisms of another cell in order to reproduce; CHLAMYDO-SAUR-us, a genus of reptiles including the frilled lizard of Australia; HETERO-CHLAMYD-eous, having a calyx differing from the corolla in colour

GON(I)-

  • ‘angle’
  • PENTA-GON; MICRO-GONI-SCOPE, an apparatus for measuring extremely small angles, as in ophthalmology

HAL-

  • ‘salt’
  • HAL-ite, rock salt; HALO-PHYTE, a shore plant, a plant capable of living on salt; HALO-GEN, any one of the nonmetallic elements: iodine, chlorine, bromine, fluorine

PALI(N)-

  • ‘again’, ‘back’
  • PALIN-DROME; PALIN-ODE; PALIN-DROM-ia, recurrence or intensification of a disease; PALI-OP-sia, recurrence of a visual impression after stimulus has ceased

POIKIL-

  • ‘varied’, ‘irregular’, ‘mottled’
  • POIKILO-CYTE, a large red blood cell or irregular shape; POIKILO-THERMAL, a cold-blooded animal, of which the temperature varies with its surroundings

PYL(E)-

  • ‘gate’, ‘entrance’
  • PYLON; THERMO-PYL-ae; apo-PYLE, exhalant pore of a sponge; MICRO-PYLE, aperture for admission of pollen tube at ovule apex; PYLE-THROMBO-PHLEB-itis, inflammation and thrombosis of the portal vein

SPIR-

  • ‘coil’
  • SPIR-al; ACRO-SPIRE, the first shoot or sprout, being spiral, at the end of a germinating seed; SPIR-eme, threadlike appearance of nuclear chromatin during the prophase of mitosis

SYRING- (SYRINX)

  • ‘pipe’, ‘tube’
  • DACRYO-SYRINX, a lacrimal fistula, or a syringe for use in lacrimal ducts; SIALO-SYRINX; a salivary fistula, or a syringe for use in salivary ducts; SYRINGO-PHIL-us, genus of parasitic mites that live in the gullets of birds

TON-

  • ‘stretching’, ‘tension’
  • TONE; TON-us, the state of partial contraction characteristic of normal muscle; a-TON-ia, absence of tonus; OPTHALMO-TONO-meter, an instrument for measuring inter-ocular tension; PSYCH-en-TON-ia, mental strain or overwork