habitus (see -sthenia) hair is ofTeutonic origin, through the Old English haer. Latin provides a variety of words denoting different kinds of hair, and some ofthem have been carried over into medical terms. The Latin capillus is a contraction of capitis pilus, "the hair ofthe head." From this, in the 17th century, was derived capillary as the name for the blood vessels of fine, hair-like caliber connecting arteries and veins.The ancients had no idea these vessels existed. Pilus, related to the Greek pilos, "carded wool," referred to hair generally, and from this we have pilonidal (+ Latin nidus, "nest") descriptive of a hairy dermoid cyst that occurs as a developmental defect at the base of the spine and pilomotor as the name of a minute muscle that moves a hair to stand on end; also depilatory, an agentthat removes unwanted hair. The Latin vellus and villus both mean "fleece” (villus more specifically is “a tuft of hair") and also referred to the fine body hair or "down," especially that of children and women (also known by the Latin lanugo). Thus, we have the French velours and the English "velvet." Villi (singular, villus) are the slender mucosal projections lining the lumen of the small intestine; villous describes whatever resembles villi. Vibrissa, from the verb vibrare, “to quiver," refers to hair in the nostrils or the whiskers of a cat. The Greek mystax (in which the final letter is "xi," not "chi") refers to hair on the upper lip and led to mustache. Barba is Latin for "beard," hence "barber" (but not "barbarian," which can be traced to the root bar-bar, an echoic term imitating the supposed stammering of outlanders unfamiliar with classical languages). The New Latin seta is "a bristle" such as found on pigs; from this comes Setaria as the name of a genus of filarial nematodes and also seton, a strip of nonabsorbable material drawn through a wound to facilitate drainage. haircut at one time was heard as a dialect word for the primary lesion of syphilis. The allusion was to the former medical custom of shaving the pubic hair when applying topical therapy for venereal disease, hair ofthe dog is an expression used by topers who suppose that a stiff drink in the morning will allay symptoms of a hangover from excessive imbibing the night before. Such a belief is akin to the aphorism expressed by the Romans as Similia similibus curantur("Like cures like"). In days of yore it was widely believed that a wound inflicted by the bite of a dog would heal more quickly if a tuft of hair taken from the attacking dog was embedded in the open wound. There is no evidence this actually worked; more likely it only made matters worse. (see homeopathy) hale as in "hale and hearty," referring to a state of ebullient wellness, is descended from the Old English hal, meaning "whole" in the sense of all parts intact and functioning in good order, (see heal; also health) halitosis comes from the Latin halitus, “breath or vapor," and this relates to "inhale" and "exhale." Strictly speaking, halitosis means "a condition of the breath." But, thanks to the gratuitous efforts ofthe advertising industry, everyone knows that halitosis is a euphemism for "bad breath." hallucination comes from the Latin hallucinari, "to dream or to talk wildly." An earlier Latin deponent verb was alucinari, "to engage in small talk or to ramble." This, in turn, related to the Greek aluein, "to wander, as in mind, or to be distraught." hallux is the Latin word for the big toe and is so used in terms referring to deformities such as hallux valgus. Hallux originated in an earlier form allex, thought to have been derived from the Greek allomai, a deponent verb meaning "to leap." The Latin adjective for bowlegged is valgus, obviously referring to the knee, as in genu valgus. But the metatarsophalangeal joint of the big toe could become bowed, too, and came to be known as hallux valgus. A better term is simply bunion, from the Old French buigne, "a swelling or bump due to a blow.” (see valgus) 104 halogen haptin halogen is derived from the Greek als, "salt," + -gen, a suffix indicating an origin or source. Thus, a halogen is a "source ofsalts." To designate chlorine, bromine, and iodine as halogens seemed appropriate to early chemists because these elements were commonly found in sea water and the Greek als particularly referred to the salt ofthe sea. Fluorine was later added to the group of halogens. hamartoma is derived from a combination of the Greek hamartanein, “to fail of purpose, to go wrong," + -oma, "a tumor." The idea is that a hamartoma is a tumor resulting from something gone awry in development. The term is said to have been introduced by Karl Albrecht (1851-1894), a German anatomist, to denote a tumorlike nodule ofsuperfluous tissue. The essential feature of a hamartoma is that it contains elements or variants thereof that are indigenous to the part involved, and that these have proliferated because of an ontogenetic defect. Hamartomas are thus distinguished from neoplasms that arise later in life and may or may not contain elements normally found in the part affected. hamate is the name of one ofthe carpal bones that has a hook-like process extending from its volar surface, and its name is taken from the Latin hamatus, "hook-shaped." Hamulus is the diminutive, and the pterygoid hamulus, a process of the sphenoid bone, is shaped like a little hook at the end of the medial pterygoid plate. hamstring as a noun refers to the prominent tendons of the flexor muscle at the back of the knee; as a verb it means to cut these tendons, a sure way of crippling an animal or a human adversary in battle. The relation of "string" to tendon is obvious. The "ham-" part is taken from the Old Teutonic ham, "crooked," that was applied to the crooked part of the leg atthe knee."Ham" also came to mean the thigh of an animal prepared as food, later being restricted to that of the pig, then extended to include most ofthe meat of that particular animal. All of this has nothing to do with "ham" as an overly zealous performer; this use of "ham" is an aspersion cast on the inept actor who vainly attempts to play the protagonist of Shakespeare's Hamlet. In the sense of amateur, "ham" later became a nickname for a non-professional radio operator, hamulus (see hamate) handbook (see manual) handicap is a disadvantage or burden that diminishes the chance of success and, when applied to a person, refers to a physical impairment. The term originated in sport in the 18th century, and the term is still used specifically for the added weight placed on the back of an otherwise favored entry in a horse race. At one time the custom was to place the wager money in the cap of an impartial umpire who decreed the extent of burden to be borne by the superior horse so as to ensure a fair race. The challenged and the challenger each put his hand in the cap. If either withdrew his money, the race was off. If both pulled back an empty hand, the terms were accepted, and the race was on. The gesture of the "hand in the cap" came to be called simply "handicap." hangnailis the term for a tender, split cuticle at the edge ofthe fingernail ortoenail, butit has nothing to do with hanging. It is derived from the Old English ang, "painful," + naegl, "nail." How or why "h" became the initial letter is a mystery. Perhaps "hangnail" seemed easier to pronounce, atleastto cockneys. Hansen's disease (see leprosy) haploid describes one of a pair or a single set, usually in reference to chromosomes. The term is from the Greek haplous, "single," + -old, "like." (see -ploid) Hapsburg lip is a congenital deformity of the jaw wherein the mandible protrudes far beyond the maxilla. The defect is evident in portraits of members of the royal Hapsburg family that once ruled over Spain, the Netherlands, and Austria. It is said that Charles II, last of the Spanish Hapsburgs, had a jaw so malformed that he could not properly chew his food. Similarly, the mouth of Charles V, the 16th century Holy Roman Emperor, was so distorted that he could hardly utter an intelligible word. haptin is derived from the Greek haptein, "to fasten or bind." The term, sometimes spelled "haptene," was introduced by Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), the renowned German bacteriologist and immunologist. Ehrlich's "side-chain 105 harelip hectic theory" postulated the presence of receptors in cell membranes that served as binding sites for various antibodies, a remarkably prescient idea. A haptin is not a whole antigen, but rather is that part of the antigenic molecule or complex that determines its immunologic specificity. harelip is a congenital defect in the upper lip consequent to failure of the median nasal and maxillary processes to unite in the course of embryonic development. It is so called because the hare, a close relative ofthe rabbit, normally has a divided upper lip. haruspication is hardly an everyday word but should be of interest to diagnosticians. A haruspex was a priest of ancient Rome who sought to foretell the future by inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals. The name comes from a combination of the Latin ham, hira, "the empty gut," + specere, "to look at." This sounds bizarre, but there was a precedent. Ancient Persian soothsayers claimed to predict the outcome of battles by examining sections of animal livers. Knowing this can open a renewed purview for hepatologists. hashish is the dried, flowering tip of the hemp plant which is smoked, chewed, or brewed as a potent source ofthe intoxicant drug cannabis (q.v.). Hashish is the Arabic word for dried vegetation, such as hay. Thus, "hashish" is analogous to "grass," a common street word for marijuana in the United States. The ancients were well acquainted with the psychotropic property of hemp. Smoking for pleasure is by no means a recent discovery, haustrum is the Latin word for "a scoop or bucket" and, as the neuter plural haustra, has been applied to the bucket-like pouches that characterize the wall ofthe colon. The related verb is haurire, haustum, "to draw up or drink up." When early writers named the haustra of the large intestine they had no idea that the colonic mucosa avidly absorbed water; rather, they likened the bulges in the wall of the colon to the chains of dippers used to draw water from a well. Haversian canals (see lacuna) AR (Allergic Rhinitis; Hay Fever) was first described in 1819 by John Bostock (1773-1846), an English physician who himself suffered from the condition that he called "summer catarrh" because it recurred perennially in the late summer season. Shortly thereafter it was correctly surmised that the cause was the inhalation of pollen, butthe source was mistakenly thought to be the ripening grasses mown for hay. Only later was pollen from the ragweed plant properly indicted. And, of course, the allergy is not marked by fever. So, "AR (Allergic Rhinitis; Hay Fever)" is a Misnomer all around, but its common use persists. head can be traced to the postulated IndoEuropean kauput, "skull or bowl," that led to the Latin caput. Thus, "head" is cognate with the German Haupt or Kopf, the Dutch hoofd, the Swedish huvud, and the Danish hoved. heal comes from the Old English haelen, "to make sound or whole," and thus has its similar counterparts in most Teutonic languages. health is derived from Old English (see heal) and can be defined as a state ofsoundness or wholeness or, as might be said today, "to have it all together." Related words are hail (as a greeting) and hale (q.v.). heart is descended from the Old English heorte. Through the ages, despite an ignorance of the circulation of blood, the heart was somehow associated with the essence of life and vigor and was looked upon as the seat of courage, hence the figurative use of "hearty" and "to hearten" or "to dishearten." heartburn (see pyrosis) hebephrenia is a form of schizophrenia observed in adolescents and takes its name from a combination of the Greek hebe, "puberty," + phren, "the mind." Hebe, the wife of Hercules, was the Greek goddess ofyouth and spring who purportedly had the power to make the aged again young. "Hebiatrics,” sometimes called "ephebiatrics," is a perfectly good name for the practice of medicine limited to pubescent youngsters, but most practitioners of this specialty prefer "adolescent medicine." hectic owes its present meaning to a medical association. Galen, the 2nd century Greek physician, described recurring flushing and fever by the word hektikos, "habitual." In the 15th century, "hectic fever” was associated with tuberculosis, which, in advanced stages, was not only persistent but marked by flushed cheeks, nervous excitability, and confused 106 HeLa cells hemoglobin agitation. Thereupon, the meaning of "hectic" changed from “habitual or repetitive" to "feverish, reckless activity." HeLa cells are used in biomedical research at the cellularlevel and are the product of a perpetual culture of malignant cells originally isolated in 1951 by George O. Gey atthe Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The source was a cervical carcinoma harbored by a patient named Henrietta Lacks. The term is taken from the firsttwo letters of her first and last names. This is yet another example of unexpected immortality, of a sort. Helicobacter is a bacterial genus given recent attention because its pylori species has been found to play a significant role in the pathogenesis of gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, and possibly gastric carcinoma. The name is taken from the Greek helix (see below) + bacter, "a rod," because of its shape, (see campto-, campylo-) helix is borrowed from the Greek helix, "a coil," and is related to the verb helissein, "to twist or roll." The helix of the ear is the rolled superior and posterior margin ofthe pinna ofthe ear. In modem biology, the "double helix" is the paired, coiled structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) that enables reproduction of genetic information in living cells. For a highly readable account ofthe delineation of the helical structure of DNA, see H.F. Judson's The Eighth Day of Creation (Cold Spring Harbor, NY: CSH Laboratory Press, 1996). helminth is an almost direct borrowing of the Greek helmins, "a worm," and is used in medicine, either alone or as a combining form, to refer to any worm-like parasite, hema-, hemato-, hemo- are combining forms indicating a relationship to blood and are derived from the Greek haima, "blood." hemangioma is an abnormal proliferation of blood vessels, often as a hamartoma. The term incorporates “hema-” + the Greek a[n]ggeion, "vessel," + -oma, "tumor." hematemesis is the vomiting of blood, adding to "hema-" a derivative of the Greek emein, "to vomit." hematochezia is the passage of recognizable, usually fresh red blood at stool. A derivative ofthe Greek chezein, "to defecate," is added to the prefix "hemato-." This is in contrast to melena, the passage of black tarry stools, though in some cases the blood in stools is mixed, both red and black, hematocrit is the percentage of cellular elements of blood when plasma, the fluid component, is separated by centrifugation. The term combines hemato- + a derivative of the Greek krinein, "to separate." hematopoiesis is the process whereby the cellular elements of blood are formed. The Greek poiesis, "creation," is borrowed for the second portion of the term. Originally, the liver and spleen were thought to be the principal blood-forming organs. It was not until the mid-19th century thatthe hematopoietic role ofthe bone marrow was recognized, hematoxylin is a common tissue stain, often used in combination with eosin, as in the familiar "H&E" preparation of histologic sections. The heavy, reddish-brown heartwood of a West Indian and Central American tree, called "logwood," is used as a source of the dye. The generic name for the tree is Haematoxylon (+ Greek xylon, "wood"). The name presumably was suggested by the blood-like color of the wood. The dye, extracted from the wood by ether, became known as hematoxylin and has been applied to tissue sections since the mid-19th century, hemochromatosis is a condition characterized by an accumulation of excess iron pigment in the liver, pancreas, heart, skin, and other organs. At one time the disease was occasionally called "bronze (or bronzed) diabetes." The name "hemochromatosis," incorporating the Greek chroma, "color or complexion," was proposed by Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen (1833-1910), a German pathologist. Presumably the original idea was thatthe affected organs were discolored by iron from blood; it is now known the iron accumulates from exogenous sources. The bronze-like pigmentation ofthe skin in patients with hemochromatosis is largely melanin, hemodynamic describesthe physical principles governing blood pressure and flow. The term incorporates the Greek dynamis, "power, force." hemoglobinis a word that can foolthe armchair etymologist. When dissected, "hemoglobin" seems to be a combination of hemo- + glob, "ball," + -in, “a substance." This would add 107 hemolysis hepatic up to "blood-ball stuff," which sounds silly, yet this is an almost literal translation of the German Blutkiigelchenstoff, a term coined by the renowned biochemist Ernst Felix HoppeSeyler (1825-1895). Actually, the original form probably was "haematoglobulin," which for convenience wasshortened to "hemoglobin." Only later, when the chemical composition of hemoglobin was better understood, did the word make sense asindicating a composition of “heme," the pigment component, and "globin," the protein moiety, hemolysis refers to the consequence of a disruption of red blood cells and the dispersion oftheir contents into whatever medium they were suspended. The second portion of the term is a borrowing of the Greek lysis, "a breaking up." hemophilia is a disease that has been recognized since biblical times, being mentioned in the Talmud. In this collection of Judaic law, the condition was cited as exempting the sufferer from the rite of circumcision because of the hazard of hemorrhage. The term combines hemo- with the Greek philos, "loved or dear." The idea is notthat blood is held dear or that a condition of the blood affects loved ones; rather, "-philia” here indicates a tendency, in this case, to bleeding, hemoptysis incorporates the Greek ptysis, "a spitting" (an onomatopoeic word if ever there was one). The ancients used the term to refer to the spitting ofblood from any source. Only later was it restricted to the coughing up of blood from the respiratory tract, hemorrhage means a free and forceful escape of blood. The tail of the term is taken from the Greek r[h]egnumai, "to break forth." hemorrhoid comes from the Greek hemorrhoid, "a flow of blood," a term combining haima + a derivative of rheein, "to flow." In this case the ending "-oid" does not originate in the Greek eidos, "like." Rather, our word came through the French emoroyde. Apparently the flow of blood from distended, prolapsed, anal veins was familiar to the ancients. Because the condition was frequent, the source of the bleeding was referred to, anatomically, as the hemorrhoidal veins. In other words, the bleeding was named first and then the name was transferred to the source. The British, of course, spell it "haemorrhoid,” more in keeping with the original Greek. Some years ago an English proctologist was invited to address the American Gastroenterological Association on the subject. He began by pointing out, "No wonder you Yanks have trouble dealing with this condition — you can’t even spell the word!" (see fiacre, also piles) hemi- is a combining form derived from the Greek hemisus, "half,” and is equivalent to the Latin semi-. As a rule, not always followed, "hemi-" is attached as a modifier to words of Greek origin and "semi-” is attached to those of Latin origin. heparin was the name given by William Henry Howell (1860-1945), an eminent American physiologist, to an anticoagulant phospholipid substance extracted from canine liver. The name was concocted from the Greek hepar, "the liver," + the suffix -in, meaning "a substance of." Howell thought this substance was equivalent to what he had postulated as the "anti-prothrombin principle" that prevented circulating blood from clotting. The "anti-prothrombin” notion figured in a mistaken theory of blood coagulation that was propounded in Howell's Textbook ofPhysiology through several editions from 1911 to 1921. It was in the 1930s that a quite different substance having potent anticoagulant activity was extracted from beef lung by A.F. Charles and D.A. Scott in Toronto. But the original name "heparin" stuck. The refined substance used in clinical practice today is a mucopolysaccharide prepared from beef lung or from beef or hog intestinal mucosa; it has nothing to do with the liver. hepatic can describe anything related to the liver, being a near borrowing of the Greek hepatikos, "ofthe liver." The Greek name for the liver is hepar, "the liver," now modified and used only as a basis, as in hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver, or as a combining form, hepato-. Strangely, the Latin word for liver, jecur, never appears in medical usage, with the possible exception of "jecorize," an arcane term for imparting to food, by any means, the therapeutic qualities of cod liver oil. Incidentally, "hepatica" is the name given to a wildflower whose three-lobed leaves are suggestive of the shape ofthe liver. 108 hermaphrodite hiccup hermaphrodite is a person or animal whose body exhibits anatomic features of both sexes. The word comes from Hermaphroditus, so named in Greek mythology because he was the son ofHermes and Aphrodite. Hermaphroditus was beloved by a nymph Salmacis, who shamelessly pursued and embraced him, imploring the gods to unite them "so the twain might become one flesh." Her fervent prayer was not only heard but granted, one might think to the dismay of Hermaphroditus. Sailors know a "hermaphrodite brig" as a two-masted vessel that is square-rigged forward and schooner-rigged aft. hermetically sealed describes the manner in which various containers, notably ampoules and flasks, are rendered impervious to contamination. The term commemorates not Hermes the Greek god but rather a later legendary figure who styled himself as Hermes Trismegistus ("Hermes Thrice Greatest") and who claimed, among other marvels, to have discovered a means of making jars airtight, hernia probably comes from the Greek hernos, "a sprout," as it referred to the protruding bud of a plant. The allusion originally was to any unsightly bulge from the body. Only later was the essential definition established as a protrusion through an abnormal opening, heroin was first described in 1874 as a semi-synthetic derivative of morphine, but it gained attention in 1898 when commercially introduced by the Bayer company of Germany. The name "heroin" reportedly was bestowed on the drug by Dr. Heinrich Dreser, then head of Bayer's research department, who adapted the name from the German heroisch, "heroic, strong." The claim was that heroin was both strong (true: the drug has more than twice the potency of morphine) and benign (false: the malignant addicting property ofthe drug was soon apparent but slow to be believed). Curiously, heroin was at first touted as a cure for morphine addiction. Whoever believed that must have forgotten than morphine was once touted as a cure for opium addiction. Some lessons are hard to learn, herpes is a borrowing of the Greek word that appears in Hippocratic writings as a term for a spreading cutaneous eruption. The root word is the Greek herpein, "to creep." The Latin equivalentis serpere, "to crawl, to move or spread slowly." To the Romans a serpens was a creeping thing, a snake. The Greek zoster denotes a girdle. Hence, herpes zoster is an eruption thattends to creep around the torso. Butitis only "half a girdle" because the eruption of herpes zoster almost never crosses the midline from one side to the other. A common term for the disease is shingles, a term hobson-jobsoned from the Latin cingulum, "a girdle." Herpes simplex (Latin simplex, "simple or plain") is the name given to a virus that occurs in two types. Type 1 causes ordinary "cold sores," such as erupt around the mouth, sometimes in response to fever. Type 2 causes recalcitrant genital sores that are anything but simple for the sufferer, hetero- is a combining form taken from the Greek heteros, "different, or "the other oftwo." This is in contrast to the Greek homoios, "like or resembling,” from which is derived the combining form homo-. Whatever is heterogeneous is made up of different things, particularly of things from different sources; whatever is homogeneous is from the same source, hence "allthe same." Whatever is heterotopic (+ Greek fopos, "place") is in a location other than where it should normally be. hiatus is the Latin word for "an opening, a gaping mouth, or a chasm." The Latin verb hiare means "to yawn or gape." The word has been incorporated in various medical terms, such as hiatus semilunaris, which is the crescentic groove anterior and inferior to the bulla of the ethmoid bone into which the paranasal sinuses drain. What is commonly called hiatus hernia is a protrusion of the cardial portion ofthe stomach superiorly into the opening in the diaphragm that is normally occupied by the esophagus, hiccup is an imitative word that when pronounced sounds like what it means. Similar sounding words of the same meaning occur in most European languages, as, for example, the Spanish hipo and the French hoquet (the German Schlucken has a juicier sound). Occasionally there comes along a pseudosophisticated pedant to whom "hiccup" looks inelegant. He then insists on spelling it "hiccough," which is nonsense. Singultus is highfalutin "medicalese" for hiccup. It is a 109 hidro- hive Latin word meaning "a gasp or a sob," especially those that occur repetitively. The Latin adjective singuli means "one at a time." hidro- is a combining form taken from the Greek hidros, "sweat." Hence, anhidrosis is an absence ofsweating, and hidradenitis is an inflammation of the sweat glands. "Hidro-" is not to be confused with "hydro-," a combining form borrowed from the Greek word for water. hilum is the Latin word for “a little something, a trifle." The Romans used the word to refer to the inconspicuous spot on a seed or bean that marks its point of attachment to a stalk. Hence, in anatomy, the hilum of the lung or kidney is the point of attachment by the serving vessels. Hilum is a neuter singular noun; to use "hilus" would be imputing an incorrect gender; the proper plural of hilum is hila. The Romans are said to have had an expression ne hilum, meaning "not even a trifle," often shortened to nihil, and even to nil. From this comes our "nihilism," "nil" (as an expression for zero), and "annihilate" (utterly destroyed, reduced to nothing). hip is a word of Old English origin that in its earliest form may have meant "a bump or a lump," the humps on eitherside ofthe pelvis being sufficient to hang one's pants on. The same word appears in rose hip, meaning the lump-like fruit ofthe rose plant, now purveyed in so-called natural food stores as a source of vitamin C. hippocampus is a curved gyrus in the medial part ofthe floor ofthe inferior horn ofthe lateral ventricle of the brain. Functionally, it is part ofthe olfactory cortex. Its shape suggests that of the seahorse that exists both in mythology, as a sea monster with the head of a horse and the tail of a fish, and as an actual small sea creature, a member ofthe pipefish family. The name comes from the Greek hippos, "horse," + kampos, "a sea monster." (see ammonia) Hippocrates is a name soon learned by every student of medicine, but surprisingly little of certainty is known of the man who bore that name and the accolade "Father of Medicine." He is believed to have been born about 460 B.C. on the Greek island of Cos, the son of a physician, then to have traveled widely, honing his craft before returning to his birthplace to establish a renowned school of medicine. Much of the writings attributed to Hippocrates likely is hearsay recalled and recorded by his students. The "Hippocratic Oath," still recited in one version or another by graduating medical students, almost surely was not written by Hippocrates but embodies many of his teachings. Nevertheless, Hippocrates deserves his fame if for no other reason that he detached the science of medicine from superstition and insisted on direct clinical observation as the basis for medical practice. Hippocrates is a curious name. Its origin is obscure. Hippo is Greek for "horse" and by extension "anything huge or great"; kratos is Greek for "strength, might, or power." Hence, the name Hippocrates could be applied to a man of greatinfluence. hirsute is a Latin way ofsaying "hairy" and is an almost direct borrowing of the Latin adjective hirsutus, which to the Romans meant "bristly" or even "rude." Hirsutus probably is related to the Latin verb horrere, "to bristle," i.e., to make one's hair stand on end. Descended from horrere are the English words horror, horrid, and horrendous. histo- is a combining form that refers to any biologic tissue or composite of cells. The Greek histos means "a ship's mast," but it came to be used also for the upright pole supporting the web of a loom (the warp of ancientlooms was stretched horizontally rather than suspended vertically). Later, the term was applied to the web as well and, by extension, to the fabric, then further still to organic tissues. Building on "histo-," we have histology (+ Greek logos, “a treatise"), histamine (an amine occurring in various tissues), and histolytic (+ Greek lysis, "a loosening"). Histio-, a variant of "histo-," is used in the same sense of pertaining to tissues, e.g., histiocyte, a macrophage found in a variety oftissues. The Greek histion means "anything woven, particularly a sail." hive by one definition is a localized swelling in skin. The eruption, because multiple, usually is called "hives." The term is traditionally related to the verb "to heave," in the sense of raising up. However, it would seem more likely thatthe bump in the skin suggested the 110 holistic hospital shape of a beehive, a conical or domed structure. This kind of "hive" is descended from the Icelandic hufr, "a ship's hull." holistic (see eclectic) homeopathy is a concept of medical therapy promoted by Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German physician. The concept did not originate with Hahnemann but was embodied in the ancient aphorism Similia similibus curantur ("Like things are cured by like things"). According to this notion, symptoms are best treated by agents believed to induce the same reaction. An example would be an attempt to combat fever by administering a pyrogenic agent, thus to "fight fire with fire." In this sense, "homeopathy" was derived from the Greek homo-, "the same," + pathos, "suffering or disease." Hahnemann himself suggested the contrasting term allopathy (concocted from the Greek alio-, "other," + pathos) to refer to the use of medications having effects antagonistic to symptoms, then and still now a prevalent view. To Hahnemann’s credit, he advocated the use of minute doses of drugs synergistic to symptoms, and thus his prescriptions were generally innocuous. Some wag derisively suggested that Hahnemann would make coffee by plugging the cloaca of a duck with a coffee bean, then chasing the duck across a lake. Ambrose Bierce, in his Devil's Dictionary, defined homeopathy as "a school of medicine midway between allopathy and Christian Science. To the last, both of the others are distinctly inferior, for Christian Science will cure imaginary diseases, and they cannot." homo- is a combining form taken from the Greek homos, "like orsimilar." It is equivalent to ipsi-, taken from the Latin ipse, "the same." Thus, "homolateral" and "ipsilateral" both mean "on the same side." (see hetero-) homogeneous incorporates the Greek genos, "race or tribe," and denotes whatever is made up of the same elements or is of the same quality throughout. homologue (in biology often shortened to “homolog") denotes a part having the same structure and origin in different organisms, whereas an analog (Greek ana, "again") is a part having the same function but of different origin in different organisms. "Analog" is not to be confused with anlage, borrowed from the German word meaning "a laying on," which, in biology, refers to a primordial structure or rudiment. Homo sapiens (see sapid) homozygote is an individual organism possessing an identical pair of alleles in relation to a given phenotype. The latter portion of the term is taken from the Greek zygotos, “yoked together." homunculus is a direct borrowing ofthe Latin word for "a little man," the diminutive of homo, "a human being." In neuroanatomy, a homunculus is the proportional representation of the human figure superimposed on the motor and sensory areas of the cerebral cortex as a device to depict localization of neural control. hordeolum is a polysyllabic term for a stye, an inflamed meibomian gland in the eyelid. It comes from the diminutive of the Latin hordeum, "barley," the lesion being fancied to resemble a little barleycorn. Meibomian is taken from the name of Heinrich Meibom (1638-1700), a German anatomist who described the tarsal glands ofthe eyelid in 1666. (see acne) horehound is an extract ofthe leaves and flowers of a mint-like plant (Marrubium vulgare) often incorporated in cough drops or cough syrups. It is sometimes spelled "hoarhound." The prefix refers to the frosty appearance of the cottony surface of the leaves; the suffix descends from hune, an Old English word for a plant (no canine relation is intended). hormone is derived from the Greek horme, "impulse." The Greek word appears in Hippocratic writings to denote the action of supposed "vital principles," the notion of "getting the juices going" being an ancient one. The term was revived in 1902 by W.M. Bayliss and E.H. Starling when they described the stimulus to pancreatic secretion (] Physiol. 1902;28:325) as mediated by a humoral agent they called secretin, taken from the Latin secretus, "that which is separated." This marked the discovery and recognition ofthe first true hormone. hospital is from the Latin hospitalia, "apartments for strangers or guests." This, in turn, was derived from the Latin hospes, which 111 human hybridoma could mean either a visitor or one who entertained a visitor. Related words are hospice, host, hostel, and hotel, all in the sense of contributing to the congenial accommodation of guests. A time-honored French proper name for a hospital is Hotel-Dieu, "God's hospice." According to Lawrence Way, Professor of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, "hospital" in its current sense stems from the valor of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem (a.k.a. "Hospitalers") who served to protect places of refuge for warriors wounded during the 12th-century Crusades in the Near East (see Jonsen L. / Gastrointestinal Surg. 1997;1:101-3). But not all visitors are friendly, hence the military use of "host" from the Latin hostis, "enemy," to mean a confronting army, as well as the word "hostile." Hospitalist is a recently introduced term to designate a physician who devotes his or her professional time solely to the management of patients confined to a hospital. human is said to have originated in the postulated Indo-European root ghdhem, which referred to earth or soil. From this comes the Latin humus, "earth or land"; humilis, "common or colloquial," whence "humble”; homo, "a person" (Homo sapien is "a wise, knowing, or sensible person"); and humanus, "kind or compassionate," whence "humane." Also, presumably from this root came the Old English guma, "man," which in Old English was incorporated into brydguma, "a bride’s man," and later became “bridegroom." humdudgeon is an imaginary illness or a woeful hypochondriac's complaint. Probably the word is a contracted admixture of "humbug" and "dudgeon." In Grose's Dictionary ofthe Vulgar Tongue is the quotation "He has got the humdudgeon; nothing ails him except low spirits." humerus is derived from the Latin umerus, related to the Greek omus, both meaning "shoulder.” To early anatomists, the scapula, the clavicle, and the humerus were known collectively as the ossa humeri, "bones of the shoulder." Later, humerus came to denote the bone ofthe upper arm alone. Exhaustive research yields no evidence supporting the notion thatthe humerus is so called because itis connected to the funny bone (q.v.). humoral comes from the Latin umere, "to be moist," which seems dose to the modem sense of "humoral" in reference to those regulatory effects transmitted by the bloodstream in the form ofinternal (endocrine) secretions. This is in contrastto neural regulatory effects transmitted by nerve pathways. The action of insulin, secreted by the islet cells ofthe pancreas, on tissues involved in carbohydrate metabolism is an example of a humoral effect. In a bygone and benighted era, "humoral" characterized a concept ofphysiology and pathology that entailed four bodily "humors": blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. In health the four humors were in proper balance. Disease resulted from an imbalance, and treatment required the purging orstrengthening ofsuch humors as were considered excessive or deficient. By extension, "humor" came to be synonymous with temperament or disposition. Even today we speak of people being "good humored" or "bad humored." hyaline comes from the Greek hyalos, "a transparentstone (as a crystal) or glass." The word used by the Greeks is said to have originated in ancient Egypt where the making of glass began. Hyaline cartilage is so called because ofits glassy appearance, hybrid apparently did not originate directly with the Greek hybris, "wanton violence, insolence, or arrogance"; this, rather, has given us "hubris," of which modern-day doctors of medicine are sometimes accused. “Hybrid," as used in biology, probably began with the Latin hibrida, a term for an untamable offspring of a domestic sow and a wild boar. Later, the Latin term was applied to any mongrel, especially to a child born of a Roman father and a barbarian mother, hybridoma is a newly contrived term to designate the product of an amazing technologic feat wherein certain components of antigenbearing cells and antibody-producing cells are genetically combined. (Here the suffix "-oma" presumably is used in the sense of "body” rather than "swelling.") The combination can result in a monoclonal (mono-, "single,"