Tag: Etymology
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Xylotheque
A xylotheque or xylothek (from the Greek xylon for “wood” and theque meaning “repository”) is special form of herbarium that consists of a collection of authenticated wood specimens.[1] It is also known as a xylarium (from the Greek xylon for “wood” and Latin arium meaning “separate place”). Traditionally, xylotheque specimens were in the form of book-shaped volumes, each made of a particular kind of wood and holding samples of the different parts…
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Thistle tubes, thistle feeders, distelfinks and goldfinches
A thistle tube is a piece of laboratory glassware consisting of a shaft of tube, with a reservoir and funnel-like section at the top. Thistle tubes are typically used by chemists to add liquid to an existing system or apparatus. Thistle funnels are used to add small volumes of liquids to an exact position. Thistle funnels are found with or without taps. Since they’re…
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Moulting was known as mewing in medieval times
In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer layer or covering), either at specific times of the year, or at specific points in its life cycle. In medieval times it was also…
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Mews derives from the French muer, ‘to moult’
A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential areas, having been built to cater for the horses, coachmen and stable-servants of prosperous residents. The word mews comes from the Royal Mews in London, England,…
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In classical Greek mythology, Syrinx was a nymph and a follower of Artemis, known for her chastity
Mythology Story Syrinx was a beautiful wood nymph who had many times attracted the attention of satyrs, and fled their advances in turn. She worshipped Artemis, the goddess of wilderness, and had like her vowed to remain a virgin for all time. Pursued by the amorous god Pan, she ran to a river’s edge and asked for…
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Pterion and Pteron Notes
The pterion is the region where the frontal, parietal, temporal, and sphenoid bones join. It is located on the side of the skull, just behind the temple. Structure 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. It is the junction between four bones: These bones are typically joined by five cranial sutures: Clinical significance Haematoma…
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The word “paracetmol”
The word “paracetmol” is a shortened form of para-acetyl-amino-phenol, and was coined, manufactured and sold by Frederick Stearns & Co in 1956.
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The word “acetaminophen”
The word “acetaminophen” is a shortened form of N-acetyl aminophenol, and was coined and first marketed by McNeil Laboratories in 1955.
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Rubia peregrina aka common wild madder
Rubia peregrina, the common wild madder, is a herbaceous perennial plant species belonging to the bedstraw and coffee family Rubiaceae. Etymology The genus name Rubia derives from the Latin ruber meaning “red”, as the roots of some species (mainly Rubia tinctorum) have been used since ancient times as a vegetable red dye. The specific epithet is the Latin adjective peregrinus, -a, -um meaning “foreign, alien, exotic, strange.” *reudh- Proto-Indo-European root meaning “red, ruddy.” The only…
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Pharmacy (etymology)
pharmacy (n.) late 14c., farmacie, “a medicine that rids the body of an excess of humors (except blood);” also “treatment with medicine; theory of treatment with medicine,” from Old French farmacie “a purgative” (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin pharmacia, from Greek pharmakeia “a healing or harmful medicine, a healing or poisonous herb; a drug, poisonous potion; magic (potion), dye, raw material…
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Toxin (etymology)
toxin (n.) “organic poison,” especially one produced by bacteria in an animal body, 1886, from toxic + -in (2). toxic (adj.) 1660s, from French toxique and directly from Late Latin toxicus “poisoned,” from Latin toxicum “poison,” from Greek toxikon (pharmakon) “(poison) for use on arrows,” from toxikon, neuter of toxikos “pertaining to arrows or archery,” and thus to a bow, from toxon “bow,” probably from a Scythian word that also was borrowed into Latin…
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Sugar-coat (etymology)
also sugarcoat, 1870, originally of medicine; figuratively, “make more palatable,” from 1910; from sugar (n.) + coat (v.). Related: Sugarcoated; sugarcoating. sugar (n.) late 13c., sugre, from Old French sucre “sugar” (12c.), from Medieval Latin succarum, from Arabic sukkar, from Persian shakar, from Sanskrit sharkara “ground or candied sugar,” originally “grit, gravel” (cognate with Greek kroke “pebble”). The Arabic word also was borrowed in Italian (zucchero), Spanish (azucar, with the Arabic article), and…
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Poison (etymology)
poison (n.) c. 1200, poisoun, “a deadly potion or substance,” also figuratively, “spiritually corrupting ideas; evil intentions,” from Old French poison, puison (12c., Modern French poison) “a drink,” especially a medical drink, later “a (magic) potion, poisonous drink” (14c.), from Latin potionem (nominative potio) “a drinking, a drink,” also “poisonous drink” (Cicero), from potare “to drink” (from PIE root *po(i)- “to drink”). A doublet of potion. For similar form…
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Virus (etymology)
virus (n.) late 14c., “poisonous substance” (a sense now archaic), from Latin virus “poison, sap of plants, slimy liquid, a potent juice,” from Proto-Italic *weis-o-(s-) “poison,” which is probably from a PIE root *ueis-, perhaps originally meaning “to melt away, to flow,” used of foul or malodorous fluids, but with specialization in some languages to “poisonous fluid” (source also of Sanskrit visam “venom, poison,” visah “poisonous;”…
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Kermes is a red dye
Kermes is a red dye derived from the dried bodies of the females of a scale insect in the genus Kermes, primarily Kermes vermilioThe Kermes insects are native in the Mediterranean region and are parasites living on the sap of the host plant, the Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera) and the Palestine oak (Quercus calliprinos). These insects were used as a red dye since antiquity by the…
