Myelitis

The story of the word

Greek myelós covered marrow of every kind, brain included, which is why medical Latin can call the spinal cord a marrow. Poliomyelitis names its disease precisely: pólios, grey, plus myelós, because the virus destroys the grey matter in the front horn of the cord and takes the motor neurons with it. Transverse myelitis is the modern term for inflammation cutting straight across the cord at one level, often in the weeks after an infection.

How it travelled

Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English

First recorded

19th century