Revista Română de Medicină de Laborator Vol. 29, Nr. 3, Iulie, 2021 327 Course notes DOI:10.2478/rrlm-2021-0023 Deity, love, punishment, rage, and mythonyms from head to toes. A brief history of some medical terms Adrian Naznean* Department 1 of Science and Letters, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Targu Mures, Romania Abstract Although it is undoubtful that today’s Medical English is rooted in Greek and Latin, it is particularly interesting that figures from Greek mythology are the roots of words to describe conditions, body parts, feelings, substances, etc. While there are numerous medical terms that are derived from the names of Greek mythological figures, this paper will only investigate words ranging from A to H and will try to justify the relationship between the concepts and the choice of terminology. Keywords: deity, gods, goddesses, Greek mythology, medical mythonymy Received: 25th June 2021; Accepted: 7th July 2021; Published: 9th July 2021 Introduction mythological elements is brought about by their visual interpretation on various objects such as Storytelling is an important part of every cul- amphorae, sculptures, statues, etc. While the sto- ture. It functions as lessons and examples to ries depict imaginary situations and events, what be followed, it instils various moral and ethical is particularly intriguing is the impact they had values within a community. But because these on language. lessons are handed down by word of mouth, they oftentimes become embellished, distorted, Mythonyms rooted in Greek mythology or augmented by many details. Whenever one turns to Greek myths, they will get the eternal Achilles, the greatest warrior of all Greek myth and endlessly entertaining feeling of the stories. and the son of Thetis and Peleus, was named The world of Greek mythology brings onto page such by Chiron because the child had never been hundreds of characters: immortals, heroes, vil- breastfed. Etymologically, the name of Achilles lains, mortals, titans, or hideous creatures come is the combination of the privative a- and chei- to life in the stories of Homer or Hesiod. An los, meaning lips, thus, the one without lips (1). additional value which ensures the survival of His mother, the sea nymph Thetis, wanting to * Corresponding author: Adrian Naznean, Department 1 of Science and Letters, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Targu Mures, Romania. E-mail: [email protected] 328 Revista Română de Medicină de Laborator Vol. 29, Nr. 3, Iulie, 2021 make her son immortal, dipped him into the river cord that lies between the dura mater and the Styx. The heel from which the mother held him pia mater. Undoubtedly, her name is the root for was the only vulnerable point of his body, and other words as well such as: arachnid, arachnid- the target of Paris’s poisoned arrow which killed ium, arachnoiditis, arachnology, Arachnomor- him. The name of the mythological figure is as- phae, arachnophobia, to name a few. sociated with several anatomical parts and con- The Titan Atlas, the brother of Prometheus ditions: Achille’s heel, Achille’s tendon, Achille’s among others, was the son of Iapetus and Cly- rupture, Achille’s region, Achille’s tendinitis, or mene (3). He was a second-generation Titan and Achille’s tendinopathy. one of the generals in the war against the Olym- Aphrodite, one of the most famous goddesses pians which the Titans lost. Consequently, Atlas of Greek mythology, was renowned for her un- was punished to stand at the western end of the matched beauty and her ability to arouse sexual Earth and hold up the sky. In his attempt to get desire. She was born from foam when the sev- the golden apples form the Hesperides, Heracles, ered genitals of Ouranus (Uranus) fell into the who was cautioned not to pick the apples him- sea. According to some legends, she arrived at self, relied on the help of Atlas convincing him Cythera, but floated on to reach Cyprus. Ac- to hold the sky while Atlas would pick the apple. cording to Homer, Aphrodite was the daughter After getting the apple, Atlas was reluctant to re- of Zeus and Dione. In Plato’s view, there were turn to his duty as the holder of the sky, but Her- two Aphrodites, a heavenly one, the one born acles fooled him once more pretending to place from the sea, and an earthly one, the daughter a cushion on his shoulders to ease the burden and of Zeus and Dione. Nevertheless, the goddess of making his getaway. It may be due to the posi- love and the embodiment of desire, had multiple tion of the sky resting on the back of the Titan’s love affairs with both gods and Anchises. Proba- neck that atlas came to mean the first vertebra bly it is no surprise that her name is the root for of the neck. It may or may not be hazardous that aphrodisiac to denote a food or drug that arouses the same term atlas denotes a collection of maps sexual instinct and increases pleasure. The word or a male figure used like a caryatid as a support- has an antonym, that is anaphrodisiac. The veil ing column or pilaster to symbolise the heavy of Aphrodite is the superficial membrane on the burden of holding the upper, and probably, most anterolateral surface of the prostate gland (2). important part. Moreover, Aphrodite is also responsible for the Chimera was a monstrous-looking beast with the term hermaphrodite which will be detailed later head and body of a goat, the legs of a lion, and on. had a snake as the tail. The beast wreaked havoc Although not a goddess, Arachne was the daugh- in Lycia, Asia Minor, and King Iobates sought a ter of Idmon of Colophon. She was an expert hero to destroy the monster. Bellerophon, the son weaver who committed suicide following the of Glaucus, king of Corinth, was very skilled with competition with Athena because the goddess of weaponry and was commissioned by Iobates to war and many crafts and skills tore her perfect kill the monster. In order to help him, Poseidon, tapestry refusing to admit to Arachne’s superior- who was rumoured to be Bellerophon’s actual ity and to lose. Athena changed Arachne’s rope father, offered his winged-horse, Pegasus. The into a cobweb and Arachne into a spider, an in- lead arrow that the handsome and brave warrior sect which the goddess despised. Arachne is rep- shot in the mouth of the beast was melted by the resented in medical terminology as arachnoid to flaming breath of Chimera and burnt the body refer to a thin membrane of the brain and spinal of the monster (4). While in common language Revista Română de Medicină de Laborator Vol. 29, Nr. 3, Iulie, 2021 329 the adjective chimeric, or chimerical, means vi- sion of the father. The concept can be put down sionary, fantastic, unreal, or wildly improbable, to mythological events. Clytemnestra was the in medical terminology it refers to an organism sister of Helen, daughter of Zeus, and the wom- composed of cells from two or more different an Leda, a princess of Sparta before she married zygotes. (5, 6). It is also used in phrases such as Agamemnon, and queen of Mycenae. Clytem- chimeric antigen-receptor-modified T cells, chi- nestra and Agamemnon had three children: Ip- meric mouse, or chimeric antibody. higenia, Orestes, and Electra (4). According to While few medical professionals wound wonder some other accounts, the two had four children, about the origin of a word they use on a daily ba- Chrysothemis being another daughter (1). At a sis, the adjective chronic is rooted in mythology. relatively young age Iphigenia was sacrificed by Cronus (Kronos) was the Titan who emasculated Agamemnon. Following the Trojan War, Agam- his father (7), Ouranos (Uranus), and was also emnon returned with a woman as his slave, Cas- notorious for swallowing his own children with sandra, princess of Troy. During Agamemnon’s Rhea, daughter of Ouranos and his own sister. He absence, however, Clytemnestra developed a re- was the son of Ouranos and Gaia and according lationship with Aegisthus, Agamemnon’s cousin to a prophecy he was to be overthrown by one of and archenemy. Agamemnon was murdered by his own children. In order to save one of them, the two lovers. Orestes and Electra disagreed Rhea handed Cronus a stone wrapped in cloth to with their mother’s decision and sought revenge. swallow, and the child, none else but Zeus, was There are various versions of the story belong- thus saved and brought up on the island of Crete. ing to Aeschylus, Euripides, or Sophocles, but Zeus had grown into a powerful god and with they all come down to the two brothers planning the help of his mother he made Cronus vomit and carrying out the murder of Clytemnestra and the swallowed children. Thus, Poseidon, Hades, Aegisthus. Hera, Demeter, and Hestia were reborn from The first description of the disease entity called Cronus’s bellows (4), Cronus was imprisoned, hebephrenia is attributed to Ewald Hecker (1, and the generation of Olympians was born. 10). In 1871 he defined hebephrenia as a disor- Another term which should be under investi- der with a very specific and predictable course gation is cyclopia, also called cyclocephaly or always occurring between the ages of 18 and synophthalmia, which refers to the condition of 22. A type of schizophrenia, hebephrenia, or a foetus to fail to develop two orbits (5, 8). As hebephrenic schizophrenia, has symptoms the term denotes, the origin of the word is rooted such as disorganised behaviours and thoughts, in the Cyclopes, a group of one-eyed giants (3).