The pterion is located in the temporal fossa, approximately 2.6 cm behind and 1.3 cm above the posterolateral margin of the frontozygomatic suture.
Siyan, MA; Louisa J.M. Baillie; Mark D. Stringer (April 2012). “Reappraising the surface anatomy of the pterion and its relationship to the middle meningeal artery”. Clinical Anatomy. 25 (3): 330–339. doi:10.1002/ca.21232. PMID21800374. S2CID24390399.
The pterion is known as the weakest part of the skull. The anterior division of the middle meningeal artery runs underneath the pterion. Consequently, a traumatic blow to the pterion may rupture the middle meningeal artery causing an epidural haematoma. The pterion may also be fractured indirectly by blows to the top or back of the head that place sufficient force on the skull to fracture the pterion.
The pterion receives its name from the Greek root pteron, meaning wing. My favorite etymology website doesn’t have this entry. In fact, it pulls up this, which is also interesting and possibly related because the fonts were completely crazy for a very long time.
Pierian (adj.)
literally “of Pieria,” 1590s, from Latin Pierius “Pieria,” from Greek Pieria, district in northern Thessaly, reputed home of the Muses (who also were known as Pierides); thus “pertaining to poetry.”
A little Learning is a dang’rous Thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:
[Pope, “Essay on Criticism,” 1711]
The name is ultimately from PIE *peie- “be fat, swell” (see fat (adj.)).
Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of Pierian. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/Pierian
Wikipedia says: In Greek mythology, the Pierian Spring of Macedonia was sacred to the Pierides and the Muses. As the metaphorical source of knowledge of art and science, it was popularized by a couplet in Alexander Pope‘s 1711 poem “An Essay on Criticism“. The sacred spring was said to be near ancient Leivithra in Pieria, a region of ancient Macedonia, also the location of Mount Olympus, and believed to be the home and the seat of worship of Orpheus. The Muses “were said to have frolicked about the Pierian springs soon after their birth”. The spring is believed to be a fountain of knowledge that inspires whoever drinks from it.
Orpheus and Greek Religion (Mythos Books) by William Keith Guthrie and L. Alderlink, 1993, ISBN0-691-02499-5, page 62
Classical Mythology in Literature, Art, and Music (Focus Texts: For Classical Language Study) by Philip Mayerson, 2001, page 82: “… the Muses who were said to have frolicked about the Pierian springs soon after their birth. The Castalian spring on Mount Parnassus …”
E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 2,Πιερίας—between Mount Olympus and the Thermaic Gulf, the original home of the muses and birth-place of Orpheus.
The name of the spring comes from the Pierides, the gaggle of girls (daughters of King Pierus) who sought a contest with the Muses. When they lost, they were turned into magpies. Ovid tells this tale after explaining the origin of the Heliconian spring in his 8 AD narrative poem Metamorphoses V.
The Pierian spring is sometimes confused with the Castalian Spring. The Castalian Spring, in the ravine between the Phaedriades at Delphi, is where all visitors to Delphi — the contestants in the Pythian Games, and especially pilgrims who came to consult the Delphic Oracle — stopped to wash themselves and quench their thirst; it is also here that the Pythia and the priests cleansed themselves before the oracle-giving process. Finally Roman poets regarded it as a source of poetic inspiration. According to some mythological versions it was here that Apollo killed the monster, Python, who was guarding the spring, and that is why it was considered to be sacred.
Looking up ‘pterion’ I got a mix of wing, fin and feather. My favorite etymology website has this for wing:
wing (n.)
late 12c., wenge, “forelimb fitted for flight of a bird or bat,” also the part of some insects resembling a wing in form or function, from Old Norse vængr “wing of a bird, aisle, etc.” (cognate with Danish and Swedish vinge “wing”), of unknown origin, perhaps from a Proto-Germanic *we-ingjaz, suffixed form of PIE root *we- “blow” (source of Old English wawan “to blow.” Replaced Old English feðra (plural) “wings” (see feather). The meaning “either of two divisions of a political party, army, etc.” is first recorded c. 1400; theatrical sense is from 1790.
The slang sense of earn (one’s) wings is 1940s, from the wing-shaped badges awarded to air cadets on graduation. To be under (someone’s) wing “protected by (someone)” is recorded from early 13c. Phrase on a wing and a prayer is title of a 1943 song about landing a damaged aircraft.
wing (v.) c. 1600, “take flight;” 1610s, “fit with wings,” from wing (n.). Meaning “shoot a bird in the wing” is from 1802, with figurative extensions to wounds suffered in non-essential parts. Verbal phrase wing it (1885) is said to be from a theatrical slang sense of an actor learning his lines in the wings before going onstage, or else not learning them at all and being fed by a prompter in the wings; but perhaps it is simply an image of a baby bird taking flight from the nest for the first time (the phrase is attested in this sense from 1875). Related: Winged; winging.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit va-, Greek aemi-, Gothic waian, Old English wawan, Old High German wajan, German wehen, Old Church Slavonic vejati “to blow;” Sanskrit vatah, Avestan vata-, Hittite huwantis, Latin ventus, Old English wind, German Wind, Gothic winds, Old Church Slavonic vetru, Lithuanian vėjas “wind;” Lithuanian vėtra “tempest, storm;” Old Irish feth “air;” Welsh gwynt, Breton gwent “wind.”
Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of wing. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/wing
feather (n.) where the words do show up
Old English feðer “a feather; a pen,” in plural, “wings,” from Proto-Germanic *fethro (source also of Old Saxon fethara, Old Norse fioþr, Swedish fjäder, Middle Dutch vedere, Dutch veder, Old High German fedara, German Feder), from PIE *pet-ra-, from root *pet- “to rush, to fly.”
Feather-headed “silly” is from 1640s. Feather-duster attested by 1835. Figurative use of feather in (one’s) cap attested by 1734. Birds of a feather “creatures of the same kind” is from 1580s; the same image is in Greek homopteros (variant birds of a beak is from c. 1600).
feather (v.) Old English fiðerian “to furnish with feathers or wings,” from feðer (see feather (n.)). Meaning “to fit (an arrow) with feathers” is from early 13c.; that of “to deck, adorn, or provide with plumage” is from late 15c.
In reference to oars (later paddles, propellers, etc.), “to turn the blades in a horizontal position on lifting them from the water at the end of each stroke,” to afford as little resistance as possible, it is attested from 1740, perhaps from the image of the blade turned edgewise, or from the spray of the water as it falls off (compare nautical feather-spray, that produced by the cutwater of a fast vessel). The noun in reference to this is from the verb. Meaning “to cut down to a thin edge” is from 1782, originally in woodworking. Phrase feather one’s nest “enrich oneself” is from 1580s. Related: Feathered; feathering.
Entries linking to feather
*pet- Also petə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to rush, to fly.”
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit pattram “wing, feather, leaf,” patara- “flying, fleeting;” Hittite pittar “wing;” Greek piptein “to fall,” potamos “river, rushing water,” pteron, pteryx “feather, wing,” ptilon “soft feathers, down, plume;” Latin petere “to attack, assail; seek, strive after; ask for, beg; demand, require,” penna “feather, wing;” Old Norse fjöðr, Old English feðer “feather;” Old Church Slavonic pero “feather;” Old Welsh eterin “bird.”
ptero- before vowels pter-, word-forming element in science meaning “feather; wing,” from Greek pteron “wing,” from PIE *pt-ero- (source also of Sanskrit patram “wing, feather,” Old Church Slavonic pero “pen,” Old Norse fjöðr, Old English feðer), from root *pet- “to rush; to fly.”
pterodactyl (n.) extinct flying reptile, 1826, from French ptérodactyle (Cuvier, 1809), from Modern Latin genus name Pterodactylus, from Greek pteron “wing” (from PIE root *pet- “to rush, to fly”) + Latinized form of daktylos “finger” (see dactyl).
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight.
In Greek mythology, Hermes, messenger of the gods, was enabled to fly by winged sandals, and wings on his head, which were attached at the pterion. Medusa also has these.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) or brown fat makes up the adipose organ together with white adipose tissue (or white fat). (WAT?) Brown adipose tissue is found in almost all mammals. BAT also stands for biogenic amine transporter but that redirects to Monoamine transporters (MATs) which are protein structures that function as integral plasma-membranetransporters to regulate concentrations of extracellular monoamine neurotransmitters. Three major classes of MATs (SERT, DAT, NET) are responsible for the reuptake of their associated amine neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine). MATs are located just outside the synaptic cleft (peri-synaptically)…
Siyan, MA; Louisa J.M. Baillie; Mark D. Stringer (April 2012). “Reappraising the surface anatomy of the pterion and its relationship to the middle meningeal artery”. Clinical Anatomy. 25 (3): 330–339. doi:10.1002/ca.21232. PMID21800374. S2CID24390399.
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