Abstract
There are many medical words whose origins are confusing or even controversial. Some represent misunderstandings, such as the word artery coming from a Greek word meaning “windpipe.” Some are mislabeling: Morton neuroma is not a tumor of the nerve, and hay fever is not caused by hay. And some are simply curious connections, such as how the word menstruum came to mean “solvent” in medieval times. This chapter tells the stories of words that have taken tortuous paths from their beginnings to today’s usage.
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Taylor, R.B. (2017). Medical Words with Confusing and Controversial Origins. In: The Amazing Language of Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50328-8_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50328-8_10
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