Abstract
This chapter tells stories of medical words that arose because something clinical or scientific looked like something else in everyday life. The collarbone looked like a key, or clavicle in Latin. Bulimia combines two Greek words meaning hungry as an ox. The derivation of the word chorea is a Greek word, khoreia, meaning “dance.” Many of the words in this chapter have evolved in colorful ways, such as how a Greek word meaning “to stupefy” came to be the name of the carotid artery in the neck and why the sacrum has been considered to be a holy bone.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Penfield W. The torch. Boston. Little, Brown; 1960, p. 192.
Jamieson HC. Catechism in medical history. Can Med Assoc J. 1942;47:373.
Aronstein WS. Oldest profession prefers “provider.” Amer Med News. 2001: May 21, p. 38.
Pagafetta A. Journal of Magellan’s Voyage. The original text of the Ambrosian manuscript. Translated by James Alexander Robertson, Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company; 1906.
Urban Dictionary. Definition of Magpie. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Magpie
Differential diagnosis: Nausea. Available at: http://en.diagnosispro.com/differential_diagnosis-for/poisoning-specific-agent-nausea/37707-154-100.html
Kennedy RS, Graybiel A, McDonough RC, Beckwith FD. Symptomatology under storm conditions in the North Atlantic in control subjects and in persons with bilateral labyrinthine defects. Acta Otolaryngol. 1968;66(6):533–40.
Russell G. Bulimia nervosa: An ominous variant of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Med. 1979;9:429.
Hippocrates. On the sacred disease. Translated by Francis Adams. Available at: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_Sacred_Disease
Aurelianus C. On acute and chronic diseases. Edited and translated by Drabkin IE. Chicago: Univ of Chicago Press; 1950, p. 575.
Sugar O. Jean-François Bouley (Bouley jeune): pioneer investigator in intermittent claudication. Spine. 1994;19:346.
Huntington G. On chorea. Medical and Surgical Reporter of Philadelphia. 1872;26:317.
Bollett AJ. Lessons in medical history. Resident and Staff Phys. 1999;45(9):60.
Hill L. The physiology and pathology of the cerebral circulation: an experimental research. London: Churchill. 1896; p. 119.
Stendahl. Armance. New York: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 2015.
Link JHF. Observationes in ordines plantarum naturales. Dissertatio I. Magazin der Gesellschaft Naturforschenden Freunde. (in Latin). Berlin. 1809;3:3.
Roddis LH. Medicine and the muse: Oliver Wendell Holmes, MD. Ann Int Med. 1930;3:717.
Williams WC. The use of force. In: Life along the Passaic River. New York: New Directions; 1938.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Taylor, R.B. (2017). Descriptive Medical Terms: Activities, Actions, and Appearances. In: The Amazing Language of Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50328-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50328-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-50327-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-50328-8
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)