Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Keratitis
/ˌkɛrəˈtaɪtɪs/noun
Inflammation of the cornea, the clear front surface of the eye.
The Greek roots
κέρας
kéras
horn
-ῖτις
-îtis
inflammation of
Literally: “inflammation of the horn”
The story of the word
The cornea is horn. Greek anatomists called the transparent front of the eye κερατοειδής, horn-like, because thin scraped sheets of horn were the nearest familiar thing to a hard translucent membrane, and the Latin cornea is a straight translation of that. Keratitis keeps the Greek where the anatomy kept the Latin, so one tissue answers to two words that say the same thing. The same root gave keratin, the protein of hair, nails and actual horn.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
keratinkeratoconusrhinocerostriceratops
In a sentence
Sleeping in contact lenses is the fastest way to a case of bacterial keratitis.
The clinic treats keratitis from welding arcs every summer.