Pathos II: suffering, disease, feeling, passion

Many good returns, fans of classical word origin, and welcome to my second discussion of the Greek root word pathos—suffering, disease, feeling, passion {-path, patho-, -pathy}. In this article I will be revealing GRE vocabulary that derives from this root word, and medical vocabulary as it pertains to different types of pathologies and methods of healing them. If you missed the first discussion of the Greek root word pathos, you may want to check it out before proceeding to see the SAT vocabulary words that I illuminated.  You may also want to check out this Greek root word path: "suffering, disease" podcast.

Let's begin first with GRE vocabulary. A sociopath is a person (the root "socio" comes from the Latin root socius: companion, partner, friend, comrade, colleague, ally, from which English derives the words social, asocial, society, etc.) who is etymologically "diseased as a companion," that is, is unable to function within the norms that societies demand, often manifesting in unwarranted antisocial behavior, causing she or he to act inappropriately, or beyond the pale. Another good GRE word is the word pathogen, a living disease-causing agent that enters the human body that "causes disease;" note that the root gigno, gignere, genui, genitum—to bring forth, give birth, produce {gen} is a truly prolific root that has given English vocabulary such additions as genetic, general, indigenous, degenerate, and gender, and 100s of other words, many of which are SAT and GRE favorites. Such pathogenic agents include bacteria, fungi, and viruses that penetrate the epidermis of the human body.

Medicine, over the millennia, has developed many ways in which to heal the human body. Let's discuss a few of these now.

Homeopathy: (via the Greek root word homoios—similar, like {homeo-, homœo-}): a way of treating a disease or ailment by etymologically giving a "similar disease" but in very small doses to the patient, in the hopes that the patient will develop a healthy immune response, and thereby be able to ward off the disease; for instance, I was once highly allergic to cats, and so, before I visited people's homes who had cats, I used to ingest drops that mimicked cat dander to allow my immune system to build up a homeopathic response. At times this appeared to be highly effective, and it is true that I am no longer allergic to cats!

Allopathy: (via the Greek root word allos—other, different {allo-}). Allopaths treat their patients by inducing a "different disease" into the patient's body in the hopes of warding off those symptoms that are afflicting them. This is the opposite of homeopathic treatments.

Osteopathy: (via the Greek root word osteon—bone {ost, osteo-}), etymologically "suffering via the bones," that is, osteopaths believe that imbalances in the patient's musculoskeletal system cause systemic pathologies; thus, an osteopath will make adjustments to the alignment of the bones in order to help alleviate the disorder.

Naturopathy: (via the Latin root word natura—character, power which gives birth to the world). The naturopath advises remedies for different types of disorders and diseases that are based on natural cures, such as diet supplements (such as vitamins), exercise, yoga, and massage to stimulate the body's natural healing response. For instance, I often take medicinal mushrooms if I feel a cold or flu coming on that have allowed me to live the past two winters without becoming sick, or even getting a cold. They certainly appear to work quite well by stimulating my immune system.

Kinesipathy: (via the Greek root word kinesis—motion). Also known as kinesiatrics (note the Greek root word iatros: healer, physicians...such as in psychiatrist). The treating of a disease or ailment by promoting movement of particular muscles to heal the ailment.

Neuropathy: (via the Greek root word neuron: sinew, tendon, nerve ). Please see my informative blog post on neuropathy and other English medical terms that come from the Greek root word neuron.

My last word for today is somewhat verboten to the medical profession, or at least greeted with sotto voce execrations, that is, the word idiopathy; idiopathic diagnoses are particularly worrisome to pathologists and physicians of all kinds, traditional and alternative, simply because an idiopathy is a disease with no known origin or apparent external cause; and yes, the Greek root word idios—own, personal, private, gave us the word idiot, or one who is etymologically "ignorant;" for a very interesting discussion on why this is so, check out http://www.wordempire.com/ .

My next post will finish medical vocabulary of the root word pathos.

Interested in word origin? In the power of Greek and Latin roots as the core of English vocabulary? In the root word pathos, and all the subsidiary root words discussed above, that is, what other English SAT and GRE words come from the roots socius, gigno, gignere, genui, genitum, homoios, osteon, and kinesis? All of the word roots mentioned in all articles are fully fleshed out in the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today; a Greek and Latin roots poster is also available, which beautifully illustrates not only the sheer power of Greek and Latin roots as they form the very semantic and morphemic structure of the English language, but also contains a prolific number of GRE and SAT vocabulary words, including a vast host of medical vocabulary. Or, if you're looking to learn vocabulary for the SAT or GRE verbal section, check out membean.com, where vocabulary is taught to you via an Adaptive Reinforcement Engine in a fun and engaging way which at the same time enhances your memory.

Pathos: suffering, disease, feeling, passion

Many good returns, fans of classical word origin, and welcome to my discussion of the Greek root word pathos—suffering, disease, feeling, passion {-path, patho-, -pathy}. In this article I will be discussing infrastructural derivatives for this root, as well as SAT prep words; next week I will continue with medical terminology as it pertains to pathology.  You may also want to check out this Greek root word path: "disease, feeling" podcast.
Let's commence with those English vocabulary words that form the infrastructure, or underlying framework, of our language, those words most commonly used that derive from:

Pathos—suffering, disease, feeling, passion {-path, patho-, -pathy}

To show sympathy towards a friend, one "feels with" them (note the Greek prefix sym-, progenitor of such SAT vocabulary words as symmetry, assymetry, symphonic, and symposium); hence, to be sympathetic to or sympathize with someone, one can either be in agreement with them, share similar feelings with them because of likeness of personality or ideologies, or be able to share the sorrowful or grief-stricken feelings of another, that is, commiserate with them (via the Latin root miser: wretched, miserable; when one is "miserable" or "wretched" with someone, one has the ability to feel their pain when not actually experiencing it concomitantly).

A psychopath, on the other hand, probably doesn't sympathize with anyone, except maybe him or herself, but rather has an etymologically "diseased mind," causing him or her to commit abhorrent crimes that a normally sane person would not even think of. The psychopathic person feels no remorse for the effects of what he has done, thereby showing no sense of sympathy, or empathy for that matter. Psychopathology is the study of these kinds of mental disorders, usually called psychoses (note that the Greek word psyche means mind, soul, spirit, source of key English words such as psychology, psychiatry, and psychosomatic).

Now on to SAT vocabulary prep words that contain the root word pathos.

The Greek word pathos itself gives rise to the exonym (an exonym is a word imported wholesale, or spelling/orthography intact, from one language to another) pathos, which is the ability of a person or an art form to elicit the feeling of pity or compassion towards the non-self. For instance, Cormac McCarthy's great Border trilogy elicits a great deal of pathos towards John Grady Cole, who loses not only both of the women he so desperately loves in tragic circumstances, but also forfeits his young life in a horrific and gruesome knife duel. We might, then, indeed, feel empathy towards this literary character if we too have experienced a great loss (but not that of our lives!) of a beloved; etymologically, to empathize with someone is to "feel within" them (em- is the Greek equivalent of our word "in"), that is, to viscerally and not only intellectually understand what another is feeling because we have experienced it in our own lives, a deeper recognition, as it were, than sympathy. Hence, an empathetic status is a mode of understanding another's pain through the vector of the self.
Something pathetic, on the other hand, is something inanely ridiculous and so awful that it evokes our sympathetic feelings towards it, our commiseration, and our heartfelt pity, perhaps either because it is simply miserably awful or inadequate, or perhaps because someone's plight is just so dire due, for example, to a natural disaster completely beyond her or his control. Rarely can one show apathy towards someone in pathetic circumstances, such as abject poverty or lean mendicancy; it is human to care about another's dire troubles, unless one is, of course, a closet psychopath; one can hardly be apathetic, or etymologically showing "no feeling," towards the victims of natural disasters, or of severe political repression (for a rousing first look at investigative journalism and the sympathy and/or empathy it can arouse towards those in dreadful straits, read the works of Isaac Babel, the founder of investigative journalism, as he discusses the aftereffects of the Russian Revolution of 1917 in the incunabulary days of the then nascent Soviet Union). In contradistinction to apathy is antipathy, that is, a powerful "feeling against" someone or something, that is, an aversion, dislike of, or opposition in feeling towards something. To be antipathetic is to show a strong feeling against something; probably after reading Babel one might have a strong antipathy towards the "improvements" that the Bolsheviks were supposed to have brought to St. Petersburg (Petrograd).
What does one have if one possesses a pathological condition? Excess feeling about something? In this case, the polysemous (many meanings thereof) true origin is "disease;" indeed, a pathological condition references a diseased state, such as of the mind when one is a pathological liar. A pathological book is one that deals with diseases; the medical term for a disease is a pathology (a wandering away, or deviation, from a normally healthy or sane state), which is also the study of the etiology, or origin, and causes and natures and symptomatology of disease.

My next post will return primarily to medical vocabulary in which I will be discussing the influence of the root pathos on medical terminology; GRE vocabulary that pertains to this Greek root word will form an auxiliary consideration.

Interested in word origin? In the power of Greek and Latin roots as the core of English vocabulary? In the root word pathos, and all the subsidiary root words discussed above?
All of the word roots mentioned in all articles are accessible via the etymology site http://www.wordempire.com/, on which you may view the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today; a Greek and Latin roots poster is also available, which beautifully illustrates not only the sheer power of Greek and Latin roots as they form the very semantic and morphemic structure of the English language, but also contains a prolific number of GRE and SAT vocabulary words, including a vast host of medical vocabulary.  Or, if you're looking to learn vocabulary for the SAT or GRE verbal section, check out membean.com, where vocabulary is taught to you via an Adaptive Reinforcement Engine in a fun and engaging way which at the same time enhances your memory.

Tomos III: a cut, cutting, slice, section, part of a book

Welcome back, aficionados of classical word origin as it relates to medical terminology, for my third and final discussion concerning the Greek root tomos: a cut, cutting, slice, section. You will recall that last week I began discussing numerous surgical operations/procedures that have their word origins in the Greek root word tomos, a discussion of which began with medical and SAT vocabulary from the Greek root word tomos. The acquisition of specialized medical vocabulary can take years, but a most expeditious way to learn our vast English and medical lexicon (which only gains more and more new words, or neologisms, on a daily basis) is understanding word origin, especially Greek and Latin roots that form the linguistic infrastructure or core of most medical vocabulary, and of most English vocabulary for that matter.
To view a beautiful word tree containing the words of this article and the previous two, please see the Greek root word tomos: a cut, cutting, slice, section, part of a book.
To review from last week's discussion, surgeons often perform operations that involve cutting into (incision) parts of the body, primarily for removal (excision); note that the words "incision" and "excision" from from the Latin root word caedo, caedere, a root which I discussed in a prior Latin root word caedo, caedere, cecidi, caesum post. Note that the suffix -tomy is involved in each of these words, which indicates an incision and/or excision of a designated area of the body (note also that the omnipresent "-ec-" prior to each -tomy comes from the Greek root word ec, ex—out of, from).

anthropotomy: Via the Greek root word anthropos: man or human, this is an anatomical word discussing the dissection of the human body in contradistinction to the anatomy of other animals; anthropos gives us such words as anthropology, anthropomorphic, misanthropist, and philanthropy. Androtomy is a synomyn (via the Greek root word aner, andros—man, husband {ander, andro-, -androus, -andry}, from which root we get such scientific vocabulary words as android, polyandrous, androgynous, and androgen.

salpingectomy: the surgical removal of one or both of the Fallopian tubes; this is also called a tubectomy. The primary root is the Greek noun salpinx, salping-, which means trumpet, since the anatomical structure of the fallopian (or Fallopian) tube itself suggests the shape of a trumpet (interestingly enough the Italian anatomist Gabriele Fallopio gave his name to this part of the female anatomy; an example of an eponym, which are legion in English vocabulary).

hepatectomy: The surgical excision of all of part of the liver, via the Greek root word hepar, hepatos—the liver {hepato-}, which has given the medical lexicon such gems as hepatitis (note that the suffix -itis means disease of or inflammation of), hepatolith (via the Greek root lithos: stone), hepatotoxicity, and hepatoflavin.

lipectomy: often used in plastic surgery, this involves the excision or removal of excess fatty tissue. The Greek word lipos: fat, gives us such words as lipid, lipoma, lipoprotein, and phospholipid. Cf. suction lipectomy.

pleurotomy: incision of the pleura, that serous membrane which envelops mammalian lungs, via the Greek root word pleura (Gr.)—side, rib (word origin of pleurisy, pleuropneumonia, and pleurodont). Also called a thoracotomy (the opening of and incision of the pleural cavity).

adenotomy: incision of or dissection of the glands. Via the Greek root word aden: gland, derivations of which include adenoid, adenovirus, and adenocarcinoma.

rumenotomy: a veterinary surgical procedure, this is the cutting into the rumen, via the Latin root word rumen, ruminis, source of such English vocabulary words as ruminate, ruminant, and rumenocentesis (cf. amniocentesis).

omphalotomy: the cutting of the umbilical cord at parturition. Via the Greek root word omphalos, navel, the English exonym "omphalos" comes from this word, which describes an ancient stone or artifact usually of a religious nature, the most famous of which resides in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the position of which is supposed to represent the exact center, or "navel," of the Greek world.

posthetomy: circumcision.

With that, I leave the Greek root word tomos. I shall focus next week of various sorts of pathologies that end in the Greek suffix -itis.

Interested in word origin? In the power of Greek and Latin roots as the core of English vocabulary? Want even more English vocabulary words that come from the Greek and Latin roots for tomos? Or more English vocabulary words that derive from the Greek roots anthropos: human, man or aner, andros, man, husband? How about medical terms from hepar, hepatos, liver, or the legion of words that come from the Greek root lithos, stone, or lipos, fat?
All of the word roots mentioned above are accessible via the etymology site http://www.wordempire.com/, on which you may view the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today; a Greek and Latin roots poster is also available, which beautifully illustrates not only the sheer power of Greek and Latin roots as they form the very semantic structure of the English language but also contains a prolific number of GRE and SAT vocabulary words, and includes a vast host of medical vocabulary.  Or, if you're looking to learn vocabulary for the SAT or GRE verbal section, check out membean.com, where vocabulary is taught to you via an Adaptive Reinforcement Engine in a fun and engaging way which at the same time enhances your memory. 

Tomos II: a cut, cutting, slice, section, part of a book

Welcome, fans of Greek and Latin roots, and devotees of medical terminology! Today's posting will consider primarily medical vocabulary as it relates to the Greek root tomos. As with intense academic disciplines, the learning of specialized vocabulary in the medical field can take years, but a most expeditious way to learn our vast English and medical lexicon (which only gains more and more new words, or neologisms, on a daily basis) is understanding word origins, especially Greek and Latin roots that form the linguistic infrastructure or core of most medical vocabulary.
You will recall that in my last weekly post, I began discussing medical and SAT vocabulary from the Greek root word tomos; this primarily medical vocabulary blog offering will focus on word origins concerning the Greek root word tomos: a cut, cutting, slice, section, part of a book.
Surgeons often perform operations that involve cutting into (incision) parts of the body, primarily for removal (excision): note that the words "incision" and "excision" from from the Latin root word caedo, caedere, a root which I discussed in a prior caedo, caedere, cecidi, caesum post. Let's review some medical terminology involved in this area, and the roots related to that medical vocabulary. Note that the suffix -tomy is involved in each of these words, which indicates an incision and/or excision of an area of the body which forms the main root of the word (note also that the omnipresent "-ec-" prior to each -tomy comes from the Greek root word ec, ex—out of, from).

episiotomy: an incision performed by obstetricians into the perineum to widen the birth canal to facilitate parturition (via the Latin root pario, parere, peperi, partum—to give birth, produce, come to sight).

hysterectomy: surgical removal of the uterus, via the Greek root hystera—uterus, womb; and yes, the word "hysteria" does derive from this root word because physicians once believed that a woman’s womb could engender ‘extreme excitability’ or ‘emotional overflow.' Of course, this was around the same time that balancing humors was all the rage: medieval medicine taught that the body possessed four fluids or humors: black bile, yellow bile (choler), blood, and phlegm; the relative concentrations of these four humors, different for each person, determined mood, health, and general disposition. n.b. in time, the word humor became related simply to one’s mood (as in a person being in a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ humor), and eventually evolved into the more specific meaning of ‘funniness.’

vasectomy: surgical excision of all or part of the vas deferens (that duct of the male body that carries the semen from the epididymis to the ejaculatory duct); via the Latin root vas—vessel, container {vaso-}.

gastrectomy: via the Greek root gaster, gastros—stomach, belly {gastro-}, this refers to the whole or partial excision of the stomach.

mastectomy: via the Greek root word mastos—breast {masto-}; the removal of all or part of the breast, usually due to breast cancer. An interesting related word is "mastodon," so named because the crowns of its molars were shaped like ‘breasts.’

mastoidectomy: surgical removal of all or part of the mastoid process (posterior portion of the temporal bone located behind the ear) or mastoid sinuses, also from the Greek root mastos due to its conical shape

orchiectomy or orchidectomy: surgical removal or one or both (gulp) testicles or testes (from the Latin root word testis—witness, proof, indicator; prolific root word of test, testament, intestate, testify, etc.)

rhytidectomy: medical terminology for a face lift. Via the Greek root rhytís: wrinkle, so, the surgical removal of wrinkles.

Please visit again next week as I will be discussing the following surgical operations and their most interesting word origins:

anthropotomy
salpingectomy
hepatectomy
lipectomy
pleurotomy
adenotomy
rumenotomy
omphalotomy
peotomy
posthetomy

Interested in word origin? In the power of Greek and Latin roots as the core of English vocabulary? Want even more English vocabulary words that come from the Greek and Latin roots for tomos? Or more English vocabulary words that derive from the Latin verb pario, parere, peperi, partum—to give birth, produce, come to sight, or to what the "deferens" in "vas deferens" refers? What other English vocabulary words does the Latin root testis—witness, proof, indicator vie the English language? All of the word roots mentioned above are accessible via the etymology site http://www.wordempire.com/, on which you may view the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today; a Greek and Latin roots poster is also available, which beautifully illustrates not only the sheer power of Greek and Latin roots as they form the very semantic structure of the English language but also contains a prolific number of GRE and SAT vocabulary words, and includes a vast host of medical vocabulary.  Or, if you're looking to learn vocabulary for the SAT or GRE verbal section, check out membean.com, where vocabulary is taught to you via an Adaptive Reinforcement Engine in a fun and engaging way which at the same time enhances your memory.