Biology's Etymology

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Biology’s Etymology. Whether it is when watching, listening or reading that medical drama or a visit to the doctor or hospital, the terminology used can be baffling in the extreme. That they know what they are talking about is all we need to know, for that is not what this talk is about. Here we are looking at the terms used by the majority, those without a medical grounding. This talk examines the parts of the body through the names with which we are so familiar. Who first thought of the term 'head', 'foot', 'finger', 'muscle', 'bone'? Did the heart become known as such because it was seen as central to life, or did this develop the other way around? And what about ailments and diseases? Were chickens really the inspiration of 'chickenpox'? And who thought 'chilblains' an apt description of the ailment? An explanation of where these terms originated, how they developed and why they remain commonplace today. Many of the answers are surprising and more than a few amusing. There is also the opportunity to ask specific examples, especially for those who need to know the origins of those parts not included in the talk. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

Chest – was never used for the thorax until the sixteenth century, prior to that both males and females had a breast (hence why we have a breastbone and armour a breastplate). The term chest came from Old English cest meaning ‘box, casket’, a suggestion the rib cage was a box containing a number of vital organs.

Finger – a Germanic word which can be traced to Proto-Indo-European penkwe meaning ‘five’ and for obvious reasons as there are five digits (the thumb was considered a finger until later).

Spleen – has been known since ancient times, where Proto-Indo-European splegh had the same meaning. Now today we know the spleen’s functions include the control of components of the blood such as platelets and red and blood cells. Traditionally this organ was held to contain an individual’s ill feelings, misery, bad tempers – hence we hear how one is ‘venting their spleen’.

Whooping cough – is an onomatopoeic name referring to its symptoms. Correctly it is called pertussis and coined in the 17th century as Latin per tussis means ‘persistent cough’. My grandmother always used the term chincough which, almost 50 years later, I discovered was Staffordshire dialect for whopping cough – although this doesn’t explain why my grandmother always warned us that sitting on a cold wall could give ‘chincough in your bottom’.

Buttock – most often seen in the plural, actually comes from the original ‘butt’. While this may be seen as an American term, it actually is a Tudor English term which in turn came from Germanic languages. It is not difficult to see why the rifle butt has the same origin as the rear end, although not used as such before the 14th century, and originally referred to a small piece of land (in Dutch) and as simply ‘short’ in Old Norse.

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Eli Meakin

Back almost 150 years to the day, waggoner's boy Eli Meakin was working on Mr Meakin's farm at Whitgreave. It was normal for him, as on this day, to work the threshing machine pulled by two horses. Whilst turning the horses, it was necessary to step over a horizontal shaft. No witnesses saw what happened next is unknown, he either slipped or perhaps his clothes became entangled in the machine, for it was not until someone noticed the horses were stationary did anyone investigate. Young Eli was found trapped between the cog wheels. Others helped to free him quickly but the injuries to his chest were severe and the boy died shortly afterwards.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded at the inquest. However, the coroner issued a notice saying the wheels were unprotected and dangerous for any driver, while the rods were at such an angle as to make them liable to cause injury. He insisted Mr Meakin made the machine safe before anyone would be allowed to operate the thresher again. The farmer agreed and nobody blamed for the incident.

Etymology of Body Parts

I recently heard from a young lady from New Jersey, a regular reader who asks if I would look at the etymology of the parts of the body. Thank you for your suggestion, Claire – hope you find the following list interesting!

At first I thought it made sense to work from head to toe (or even toe to head) but then remembered everyone is ostensibly a 12-year-old schoolboy and would instantly scroll down to the bits below the waist (or above it had I started with the toes). Hence so as not to reveal my ignorance as to where these bits should appear in such a list, I opted for alphabetical order.

Ankle – a word which came to English either through Old English or Old Scandinavian, both used this which suggests there is an unknown root common to both languages. Indeed that root is likely shared by Old French and Latin, for the term for that joint between the leg and the foot has the same source as ‘angle’ and that is exactly what it means.

Arm – much as the previous word here we can trace this back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning ‘fit, join’. From this we can trace lines to German, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, the Scandinavian tongues, and others all meaning ‘arm’. Note the original reference appears to be to the arm joint, also seen in the Greek derivative arthron ‘a joint’, Armenian armukn ‘elbow’, and Latin armus ‘shoulder’.

Brain – a Germanic word which seems only ever to have been used to mean ‘brain’ or perhaps ‘skull’. In his book of 2005 Anatoly Liberman suggests it is from the Proto-Indo-European root bhragno meaning ‘something broken’. (Any follow-up comments here are utterly pointless as I’ve already written them!)

Chest – was never used for the thorax until the sixteenth century, prior to that both males and females had a breast. The term chest came from Old English cest meaning ‘box, casket’, a suggestion the rib cage was a box containing a number of vital organs.

Chin – generally a Germanic word referring to the front of the jawbone, however earlier usage would be to the whole of the jawbone in many languages - one exception being Old Irish, where gin referred to the ‘mouth’.

Ear – the English version is somewhat different from those in other languages of the Germanic group which seem to prefer ore and ora and similar. All are derived from Proto-Indo-European ous seen as ‘perception’ in general rather than just hearing. It may also be of interest to learn nobody was ‘wet behind the ears’ before 1914 (the earliest known usage); however ‘the walls had ears’ by 1610; and as recently as the 1880s some medical practitioners believed piercing the ear lobes improved one’s sight.

Elbow – derived from two words, the first ell being ‘the length of the forearm’ with the addition of boga ‘bow, arch’ and related to bugan ‘bend’.

Foot – in the Indo-European group of languages, those of the Germanic arm prefer ‘foot’ whilst the Latin group opted for forms closer to the modern French pied – somewhere between these two is the original Proto-Indo-European ped all of which refer to the foot.

Finger – a Germanic word which can be traced to Proto-Indo-European penkwe meaning ‘five’ and for obvious reasons as there are five digits (the thumb was considered a finger until later)

Hand – the origin of this word is very uncertain, although we do know the Old English hond, from which it has come into Modern English, was also used to mean ‘power, control, possession’.

Head – this from Old English heafod also seen in a topographical sense to mean ‘the top of a slope’ which may well have been the original sense.

Knee – can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European where the root geneu also gave Greek gonia or ‘corner, angle’ and sharing an origin with the ankle.

Leg – a word which came to English quite late and first seen in the 13th century. Thought to have originated from a Scandinavian leggr it probably came from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning ‘to bend’.

Nail – first used in English solely for the fingernail, Old English naegl is related to terms in other languages of the Indo-European group where usage can refer to fingernails, toenails, claws, and even hooves.

Nose – can be traced to Proto-Indo-European nas which has given a name to this part of the face in all the Germanic languages, Sanskrit, Old Persian, Lithuanian, Latin, and many others. It’s original meaning is so ancient as to be unknown.

Neck – the origin depends upon whether we accept this as a purely Germanic term or not. This does not seem likely as hnecca is rarely used. It is possibly from a Proto-Indo-European knok meaning ‘ridge’ ad seen topographically in Old Irish cnocc Old Welsh cnwch and Old Breton cnoch, all three used to mean ‘hill’.

Shoulder – the origin of this Germanic term is uncertain, although it may possibly be related to the origin of ‘shield’ for obvious reasons.

Stomach – the bit at the lower end of the gullet began as stoma which, meaning ‘mouth’, referred to the other end.

Thigh – began as Proto-Indo-European root teuk or ‘to swell’, and probably came into usage in referring to the thickest part of the leg.

Thumb – as we have already seen ‘finger’ was applied to all five digits on the hand, this the case until around the 5th century. Again the term ‘thumb’ is Germanic and best seen in the Scandinavian reference meaning literally ‘the stout or thick (finger)’.

Toe – the Proto-Indo-European root here is deik which means ‘show’. This makes more sense when we understand many Indo-European languages used the same word for both toes and fingers.

Waist – this can be traced to a Proto-Indo-European root of wegs meaning ‘to increase’ (the first syllable of ‘augment’ has the same origin) and shows the figure would only get bigger from this the narrowest part of the body.

Wrist – a Germanic word which is traceable to a root of wreik meaning ‘turn’. Interestingly Old Norse rist was used to mean ‘instep’, as indeed it was in German where it also had the alternative meaning of ‘back of the hand’.