Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Neurology
/nʊˈrɑːlədʒi/noun
The branch of medicine dealing with the nervous system and its disorders.
The Greek roots
νεῦρον
neûron
sinew, cord, nerve
-λογία
-logía
study, account
Literally: “study of the sinews”
The story of the word
νεῦρον meant sinew, tendon, or bowstring long before it meant nerve; Greek anatomists did not separate the pale cords they could see from one another. Modern Latin neurologia appears in the 1680s, when Thomas Willis's dissections of the brain were recent news. The neuron itself was not named until 1891, so the cell that carries thought is called after a piece of string.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 1680s
Same family
neuronneuralgianeuroticneurosurgery
In a sentence
Neurology got the referral, but the problem turned out to be in her ear.