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What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)

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Re: What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)

#61

Post by epilys »

gerdesj wrote: post #28

Back in the day, the legal system in the UK deliberately divested itself of some Latin terminology in favour of more modern terms. I think the idea was to open up law a bit to the common man. A lot of legal terms are still thinly veiled Latin, with a soupcon (yes the cedilla is missing - this is English) of Anglo-Saxon and obviously: Old Greek, mashed in. It will make for better telly anyway ... You might think that…

To add to other comments, a positive thing with Latin and Greek jargon is that it's not intentionally obtuse, but a combination of stem words aiming to make up literal terms. Anesthesia for example means literally "not feeling". If there wasn't an influence of the classics to the natural sciences it could be notfeeling or notfeel in English.

Re: What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)

#64

Post by anthk »

romanhn wrote: post #16
deathanatos wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment reminds me of my rhetoric professor, who was Greek, and who once expressed to us that memorizing the terms in our lesson should be easy, since they were literally just the words themselves. Of course, it was all Greek to me.

Memorizing a large amount of Greek and Latin word roots was my superpower when I was studying for the SATs. I could decipher a large chunk of words even if I've never seen them before.

As a Romance speaker that's almost a builtin superpower.

Re: What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)

#65

Post by xanderlewis »

_kidlike wrote: post #60
wgm wrote: post #44

Cecil’s answer isn’t quite right. “ectomy” is indeed “cut it out” but the first definition he gives for “ostomy” (“cut a hole in something”) is the proper definition for “otomy”. The second “ostomy” definition is correct: creating a stoma (mouth). It’s all Greek, for real.

Actually -otomy isn't even -otomy... it's -tomy. For example Craniotomy. Cranio-tomy. cranio = κρανίο (skull) tomy = τομή (cut) And -tomy is just a cut, not cut a hole. To cut a hole you'd have to remove a part. Most of the cuts are straight lines and then the skin just opens up like a hole because of stretching. Then, -ostomy is -stomy. Nephrostomy. Nephro-stomy. Nephro = Νεφρό (Kidney) Stomy = Στόμιο (something tha…

I didn’t realise so many of these medical terms were Greek rather than Latin. Interesting!

Are these terms still used as-is in modern Greek? Much like how translating names of French dishes removes some of the air of sophistication, I feel like being told one is to receive a ‘skull cut’ sounds somewhat more scary than the (to an English speaker) academic-sounding ‘craniotomy’.

Re: What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)

#66

Post by rubberpoliceman »

sodii wrote: post #55
amyjess wrote: post #22

Similarly, -itis vs. -osis. -itis means the part of the body is swollen, while -osis means the part of the body is damaged. I found this out back in 2012, when I had a very nasty case of tendonitis in one of my feet, and I found out that the vast majority of cases of tendonitis should be called tendinosis instead, as it's pretty rare for the tendons themselves to swell; rather, the tendons themselves deteriorate from…

-itis refers to a specific physiological phenomenon: Inflammation ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammation ) swelling can happen without inflammaion, and mild inflammation may occur without noticable swelling. -osis is a generic suffix for a process or condition: metamorphosis, scoliosis, hypnosis.

> and mild inflammation may occur without noticable swelling.

Calor, dolor, rubor, tumor

Re: What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)

#67

Post by BoringTimesGang »

romanhn wrote: post #16
deathanatos wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment reminds me of my rhetoric professor, who was Greek, and who once expressed to us that memorizing the terms in our lesson should be easy, since they were literally just the words themselves. Of course, it was all Greek to me.

Memorizing a large amount of Greek and Latin word roots was my superpower when I was studying for the SATs. I could decipher a large chunk of words even if I've never seen them before.

That's what studying Japanese is like for Chinese speakers.

Re: What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)

#68

Post by pygy_ »

xanderlewis wrote: post #65
_kidlike wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually -otomy isn't even -otomy... it's -tomy. For example Craniotomy. Cranio-tomy. cranio = κρανίο (skull) tomy = τομή (cut) And -tomy is just a cut, not cut a hole. To cut a hole you'd have to remove a part. Most of the cuts are straight lines and then the skin just opens up like a hole because of stretching. Then, -ostomy is -stomy. Nephrostomy. Nephro-stomy. Nephro = Νεφρό (Kidney) Stomy = Στόμιο (something tha…

I didn’t realise so many of these medical terms were Greek rather than Latin. Interesting! Are these terms still used as-is in modern Greek? Much like how translating names of French dishes removes some of the air of sophistication, I feel like being told one is to receive a ‘skull cut’ sounds somewhat more scary than the (to an English speaker) academic-sounding ‘craniotomy’.

Anatomy derives from Latin. Physiology, pathophysiology and operational terms derive from Greek.

Re: What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)

#69

Post by sodii »

rubberpoliceman wrote: post #66
sodii wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

-itis refers to a specific physiological phenomenon: Inflammation ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammation ) swelling can happen without inflammaion, and mild inflammation may occur without noticable swelling. -osis is a generic suffix for a process or condition: metamorphosis, scoliosis, hypnosis.

> and mild inflammation may occur without noticable swelling. Calor, dolor, rubor, tumor

They are not definition. Maybe they were, when we didn't know about cytokines and immune cells.

Re: What’s the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy? (1986)

#70

Post by mananaysiempre »

pygy_ wrote: post #68
xanderlewis wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t realise so many of these medical terms were Greek rather than Latin. Interesting! Are these terms still used as-is in modern Greek? Much like how translating names of French dishes removes some of the air of sophistication, I feel like being told one is to receive a ‘skull cut’ sounds somewhat more scary than the (to an English speaker) academic-sounding ‘craniotomy’.

Anatomy derives from Latin. Physiology, pathophysiology and operational terms derive from Greek.

Amusingly, the word anatomy (“dissection”) is from Greek via Latin, from the very same root that we’re discussing here.

Other English terms from the Greek root for “cut”: tomography (imaging through a lot of cross-sections); entomology (study of in-sects, critters with sect-ions in their bodies); dichotomy (division into two possibilities); atom (that which cannot be divided).

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