• Anatomy, Cardiology, Guest Posts 11.08.2014 Comments Off

    What’s in a name?  Medical terms are often confusing, complicated, and seemingly random, yet they often have hidden meanings or historical significance that, upon known, can clarify the anatomy and physiology.  The cardiac system is no different.  Some terms make intuitive sense, like the aortic valve leading to the aorta, but others are a bit more occult.  Below we explore the etymology of common cardiac terms.

     Valves:  As mentioned, the names of the pulmonary and aortic valves make sense given the destination of the blood flowing through them, but what about the other two?  The Tri-cuspid valve is also fairly intuitive once we recognize that “cuspid” come from the Latin cuspis, meaning “point.”  (Think of being on the cusp of a new idea.)  “Tri,” of course, refers to three, with the name thus describing the three leaflets of the valve.

    Mitral valve is a bit more obscure.
    While discovered around 300 BC, the valve did not obtain its modern name until the 16th century.  The simultaneous rise of anatomical study and the prominence of the Catholic Church in that era jointly contributed to a new name:  being bicuspid, the mitral valve looks like a miter, or the ceremonial headgear of a Catholic bishop (see figure below).miter

    Blood Supply:  The main blood supply for the heart are the Coronary arteries, so named because they surround the heart like a crown (see figure below).  The word coronation and the Mexican beer Corona derive from same Latin root, corona, meaning wreath or crown (hence the gold crown on all the beer labels). coronary

    The Thebesian veins, which are minute, valve-less veins in the walls of all four heart chambers that drain the myocardium, are named for their discover, Adam Thebesius, who first noted their existence in 1708 – while still a medical student!!

    Capillaries and the noodle capellini (aka “angel hair”) have the same root – capill, meaning hair or hair-like.  (see figure below)  capellini

     Other:

    Vagus ( as in the vagus nerve) literally means wandering, thus describing its course.  The English word “vagrant” has the same origin.

    Digitalis comes the Latin word digitus, meaning finger (like digits), and comes from the plant Digitalis purpurea with finger-like corollas.  (see figure below)digitalis

    With the exception of eponymous terms (i.e. named for someone, as in the example of Thebesian veins above), most medical words were invented to make sense by describing the anatomy or function of the structure.  As Greek and Latin have become less familiar to most physicians, such nuances are lost and the terminology can become needlessly abstruse.  But with a little investigating, it all (or mostly) really does make sense!

    Justin Barr is currently a 4th year medical student who recently defended his PhD in the History of Medicine at Yale.