Summary
It is said that the pancreas was described first by Herophilus of Chalcedon in about 300bc, and the organ was named by Rufus of Ephesus in about 100ad. However, it is an established fact that the wordpancreas had been used by Aristotle (384–322bc) before Herophilus.
In Aristotle'sHistoria Animalium, there is a line saying “another to the so-called pancreas”. It is considered bhat the words “so-called pancreas” imply that the word pancreas had been popular at the time of Aristotle, but it had not been authorized yet as an anatomical term. However, the wordpancreas presumably has been accepted as an anatomical term since Herophilus.
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Tsuchiya, R., Fujisawa, N. On the etymology of “pancreas”. Int J Gastrointest Canc 21, 269–272 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02821615
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02821615