What diagnostic method's name
derives from a word that means "life sight" in Greek?
Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics, linguistics, neologism, idiom, cant, and argot.
The critically-acclaimed board game
MooT
consists of tough questions about the nuances of the English language.
Answer:
biopsy
To perform a diagnosis by removing a
tissue sample from a living body is to perform a biopsy. The word was coined in
1895 by Ernest Besnier from the Greek bios,
life, and opsis, a sight.
The first OED citation is:
1895 E. Besnier in
J. J. Pringle Pict. Atlas Skin Dis. 88: "Clinical
teaching will now find in a 'biopsy' a valuable means of confirming or
invalidating a dubious diagnosis."
Feedback
I guess that an
"autopsy" (self-sight?-- but geez, you can hardly do it yourself, can you?)
would then more accurately be called a "thanatopsy" ("thanatos" being Greek for
death)? Whaddayathink?
jacko at lycos.com
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