The Greek & Latin Roots of English (29 page)

What are the literal meanings and current usages of the following words?

D. It All Depends …

What are the literal meanings and current usages of the following words?

E. It All Depends on How You Look at It …

What are the literal meanings and current usages of the following words?

F.
Let Me Count the Change

What are the Latin roots of the following currencies?

HUMAN BIOLOGY
and
MEDICINE I

Asclepius, the Greek god of healing and patron deity of physicians (National Museum, Athens)

Life is short, science is long; opportunity is elusive, experiment is dangerous, judgment is difficult. It is not enough for the physician to do what is necessary, but the patient and the attendants must do their part as well, and circumstances must be favorable
.

APHORISMS I.1 (Hippocratic Corpus)

MODERN MEDICINE AND ANCIENT TERMINOLOGY

Perhaps no other area that affects our lives demonstrates so clearly the influence of Greek and Latin on English vocabulary as does the field of medicine. Although new diseases are defined and new technologies devised every day, medicine has created for itself an inexhaustible source for an expanding terminology by continually drawing upon Greek and Latin roots.
¹

THE HUMAN BODY

It is not possible to look at the constituent parts of human beings, such as blood, flesh, bones, blood-vessels and the like without considerable distaste
.

ARISTOTLE,
On the Parts of Animals

The human biological and medical sciences have thoroughly investigated the functions and operations of every part of the human body. They have taught us that the body is a wonderful machine that is extraordinarily efficient (most of the time). It is composed of over 200 bones, 700 muscles, and approximately five quarts of blood, and it is covered by about twenty-five square feet of skin. In addition, it possesses a remarkably intricate nervous system, as well as a multitude of organs that carry on vital functions within the machine.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Many bones of the human body derive their names from their seeming resemblance to other objects. For example, the collar bone, or
clavicle
, was thought by early anatomists to resemble the shape of a key, while the shinbone was called a
tibia
because of its similarity in form to a flute. And if you hearing ringing in your ears, that's because the auditory ossicles are called the
malleus, incus
, and
stapes
.

Like all machines, however, the human body is subject to occasional breakdowns (despite the classical ideal of
sana mens in corpore sano
). When this happens, we visit the doctor; and sometimes, we may even end up as patients in the hospital.

Is That English?

The French word
jargon
originally meant the chattering of birds, but now means a specialized vocabulary used by a particular group or profession that is difficult for others to understand. For example, when the doctor explains, “I'm afraid you have a rather severe bilateral probital hematoma,” what he really is saying is “Wow! What a horrific-looking black eye.”

MEDICAL SPECIALTIES

Today, of course, most doctors are specialists. There are seemingly as many specialties in medicine as there are parts of the human body, but we can get to the heart of the matter if we are willing to be patient. Let's start at the top and come face to face with what may be bothering us.