Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Who named our bones? And what were they thinking?

Roy A. Meals, MD
Conditions
July 21, 2018
Share
Tweet
Share

All of our 200+ bones have names, which facilitates describing them when we cannot actually hold them or point directly at them. It might be easier to remember the names if they were familiar ones like Robert, Sally, and Kevin, but no such luck. Latin was the original language of science, so the bones received Latin names. Some of those were derived from Greek. All were purely descriptive and widely understood, providing that you spoke Latin. For example, the shoulder blade is mostly flat and triangular. An anatomist picked one up, pondered a bit, and decided it resembled the blade on a shovel or spade. He named it scapula, Latin for shovel.

The eight wrist bones are another good example of simplicity. At first they were just numbered, but then they received Latin names, including scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, and pisiform. Those Latin names are hard for us to remember, but they merely describe the bones’ shapes: boat, crescent moon, three-corners, and pea-shaped, respectively.

Not only do the bones have names that are vaguely descriptive, so do all of their bumps, ridges, and crannies. For instance, the tip of your shoulder is your acromion. This word is derived from the Greek acro meaning highest or topmost (as in acropolis — high city) and from omion, meaning shoulder. That makes sense, as does olecranon to describe the tip of your elbow. It comes from Greek, olene for elbow plus kranion for head. But what about the bumps on both sides of your ankle? They are malleoli. Malleus means hammer. What were they thinking?

Then consider that the hip joint’s deep socket in the pelvis is officially known as the acetabulum — pretty strange to a non-Latin speaker, but it is simply named for its resemblance to a vinegar cup: acetum for vinegar plus -abulum for container. I do not know, however, what the early anatomists did with cups of vinegar. Maybe it was just wine that had gone bad, and they drank it anyway just before naming the malleoli.

Doctors today buy into the Greek-and-Latin-naming tradition both necessarily and willingly. By using uniform terminology, professionals can understand oral presentations and written journal articles from around the world. Then too, consciously or unconsciously, tossing ancient expressions around separates the wizards from the uneducated masses. This makes knowledge privileged, and hence, valuable.

Without holding the secret keys to the kingdom, doctors could suddenly lose respect.

Consider for instance, the awe-inspiring term, foramen magnum — the one-inch diameter hole at the base of the skull from whence the spinal cord emerges. Foramen magnum sounds grand and important, perhaps even magical, doesn’t it? It translates into English, however, as big hole.

Roy A. Meals is an orthopedic surgeon who blogs at About Bone. 

Image credit: Roy A. Meals

Prev

MKSAP: 70-year-old man with heartburn

July 21, 2018 Kevin 2
…
Next

Never underestimate the power of a smile

July 21, 2018 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Orthopedics

Post navigation

< Previous Post
MKSAP: 70-year-old man with heartburn
Next Post >
Never underestimate the power of a smile

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Roy A. Meals, MD

  • Orthopedic surgery enters the modern age on a chance observation

    Roy A. Meals, MD
  • Do viruses infect bones?

    Roy A. Meals, MD
  • An orthopedic surgeon analyzes presidents’ skeletal maladies

    Roy A. Meals, MD

Related Posts

  • Parallel thinking won’t solve problems in health care

    Paul Pender, MD
  • Hospital administrators thinking about no-cost treatment which really helps patients

    John Corsino, DPT
  • Why physicians should start thinking about climate change

    Janice Boughton, MD
  • Qualifying conditions for medical marijuana

    Patricia Frye
  • Settlements in the opioid cases need these non-negotiable conditions

    Rosanne Aulino, RN
  • What does Kelly Loeffler’s health plan do to coverage for preexisting conditions?

    Robert Laszewski

More in Conditions

  • JFK warned us about physical fitness. Sixty years later, we’re still not listening.

    Alexandre Bourcier, MD
  • My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD

    Jeff Cooper
  • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

    M. Bennet Broner, PhD
  • She wouldn’t move in the womb—then came the rare diagnosis that changed everything

    Amber Robertson
  • Diabetes and Alzheimer’s: What your blood sugar might be doing to your brain

    Marc Arginteanu, MD
  • How motherhood reshaped my identity as a scientist and teacher

    Kathleen Muldoon, PhD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?

      Anonymous | Education
    • Why we fear being forgotten more than death itself

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

      M. Bennet Broner, PhD | Conditions
    • My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD

      Jeff Cooper | Conditions
    • “Think twice, heal once”: Why medical decision-making needs a second opinion from your slower brain (and AI)

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?

      Jacob Murphy | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • Registered dietitians on your care team [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • ER threats aren’t rare anymore—they’re routine

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • JFK warned us about physical fitness. Sixty years later, we’re still not listening.

      Alexandre Bourcier, MD | Conditions
    • The silent threat in health care layoffs

      Todd Thorsen, MBA | Tech
    • Why true listening is crucial for future health care professionals [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 2 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?

      Anonymous | Education
    • Why we fear being forgotten more than death itself

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

      M. Bennet Broner, PhD | Conditions
    • My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD

      Jeff Cooper | Conditions
    • “Think twice, heal once”: Why medical decision-making needs a second opinion from your slower brain (and AI)

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?

      Jacob Murphy | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • Registered dietitians on your care team [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • ER threats aren’t rare anymore—they’re routine

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • JFK warned us about physical fitness. Sixty years later, we’re still not listening.

      Alexandre Bourcier, MD | Conditions
    • The silent threat in health care layoffs

      Todd Thorsen, MBA | Tech
    • Why true listening is crucial for future health care professionals [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Who named our bones? And what were they thinking?
2 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...