Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Sarcopenia
/ˌsɑːrkoʊˈpiːniə/noun
The progressive loss of muscle mass and strength that comes with ageing.
The Greek roots
σάρξ
sárx
flesh
πενία
penía
poverty, lack
Literally: “poverty of flesh”
The story of the word
Irwin Rosenberg proposed the name in 1989, arguing that the most consequential change in ageing bodies had no word and therefore got no research money. πενία is ordinary Greek poverty, the condition of the πένης, the man who works for his living, as opposed to the destitute beggar. Resistance training is the only intervention that reliably reverses it, which is why gerontology wards now have squat racks.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → medical coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1989
Same family
sarcophagussarcasmsarcomasarcomere
In a sentence
Grip strength is the cheapest screening test for sarcopenia there is.
Six weeks in bed cost him more muscle than the previous decade of sarcopenia.