greek roots

Sicca syndrome

Sicca syndrome results in xerophthalmia and xerostomia. (Image from lookfordiagnosis.com)

Throughout this summer, let’s continue to explore medical words since they are a rich source of roots. Sicca syndrome is a condition in which the body exhibits signs and symptoms of extreme dryness because of abnormalities which occur with various glands.

The most common cause of Sicca syndrome is the autoimmune disease called *Sjogren’s (shōgrən) syndrome. Certain drugs, prior radiation therapy to the head, and hepatitis have also caused this syndrome.

Sicca (sikə) comes from the Latin word siccus, meaning dry. However, many symptoms are described by Greek roots. For example, patients can have xerostomia (zirəˈstōmēə) and xerophthalmia (ziˌräfˈthalmēə). The Greek root xero– means dry. The Greek roots stoma and ophthalmo mean mouth and eye respectively. Xerophthalmia  means “dry eyes” and xerostomia means “dry mouth.”

*after H.S.C. Sjögren, Swedish ophthalmologist

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myasthenia (mīəsˈthēnēə)

This picture shows many symptoms characteristic of myasthenia. Note ptosis of the eyes and facial drooping due to muscle weakness. Image from health.facty.com

 

I apologize for the lengthy delay between posts. I have been very busy studying for the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee (more on that later)! To continue our medical theme, let’s explore the word myasthenia, which is a disease that causes muscle weakness in multiple organs.

Myasthenia, commonly known as myasthenia gravis, occurs when the body makes antibodies to nerve receptors, preventing them from telling muscles to contract correctly. Symptoms get worse with repetitive activity and improve with rest.

This disease affects many parts of the body. For example, in the eye, it causes ptosis (drooping of the eyelid) and diplopia (double vision). It can cause weakness in the jaw muscles, resulting in dysphagia (trouble swallowing). The voice can be affected with dysarthria (difficulty speaking). Rarely, myasthenia can affect the diaphragm muscle and result in breathing paralysis.

Myasthenia comes from the Greek roots myo-, meaning muscle, and -asthenia, meaning weakness. Myasthenia literally means “muscle weakness,” which aptly describes this affliction.

 

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osteopoikilosis (ästēōpȯikə̇lōsə̇s)

Note the white spots around the knee joint in this x-ray which represent the small bone islands inside the medullary cavity, characteristic of osteopoikilosis.
Bone islands (white spots) are seen clustered around multiple joints in this x-ray of the pelvis consistent with osteopoikilosis.

My dad is a radiologist and he suggested that we start our medical theme with the word osteopoikilosis. Some diseases are best shown with medical imaging, which is what my dad is an expert in. This disease is a great example.

Osteopoikilosis is also known as “spotted bone disease.” Bone is made of two major parts: the cortical bone, which is on the outside, and the medullary bone, which is on the inside. When cortical bone forms islands inside the medullary bone in multiple locations in the body, osteopoikilosis occurs.

The disease is associated with symptoms such as joint pains, rashes, syndactyly (when digits fuse together), and dwarfism. It has a characteristic look on x-ray with bone islands concentrated around joints.

Osteopoikilosis comes from the Greek roots osteo- meaning bone, and poikilo- meaning spotted or variegated. The suffix -osis meaning condition of. Osteopoikilosis literally means “condition of spotted bone.”

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ailurophobia (ī-ˌlu̇r-ə-ˈfō-bē-ə)

Ailurophobia is the fear of cats. "Gato negro" by Chosovi. Distributed under license CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

As Halloween approaches, people are busy decorating their houses with scary looking spiders, skeletons, and witches. Images of black cats are also a common decoration for Halloween; I see black cats with haunting eyes everywhere! In the United States, black cats are considered bad luck. But in other countries, like Japan, black cats are thought to bring good luck. For the last several months, a black cat has been roaming around in our yard. We see him almost every day. I like to think that this means that we will have good fortune!

Ailurophobia is the abnormal fear of cats. Ailurophobia comes from the Greek roots ailur- meaning cat and –phobia meaning abnormal fear of. I know many more ailurophiles than ailurophobes – which one are you?

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iatrophobia (īa‧trə-ˈfōbē-ə)

Iatrophobia is the fear of doctors.

Halloween is approaching at the end of the month and I am so excited! This is one of my favorite holidays; it’s a day to dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating. It is the only day of the year my mom allows my sister and I to eat lots of candy and stay up later than usual.

Last year, I explored phobias during the month of October, and I thought it would be fun to continue the theme.

One of my biggest fears is going to the *pediatrician’s office, especially when I need to get vaccinated. I feel dizzy and nauseous when a needle approaches. Iatrophobia is the abnormal fear of doctors. It comes from the Greek roots iatro– meaning physician or medicine and –phobia meaning abnormal fear of.

Do any of you have iatrophobia?

*The root word –iatr can be found hiding in the middle of words, such as in the word pediatrician – a doctor who specializes in children’s medicine.

If you want to explore other phobias I’ve written about, search my blog with the key word “phobia”.

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lipogrammatism (lipəˌgramə ti-zəm)

Lipogrammatism is a style of writing in which a letter or group of letters is excluded from a literary work.

Happy October! Recently, my English class received an unusual writing assignment from our teacher. Our assignment was to write a detailed description of our faces. This seemed easy enough, but there was a catch. We could not use the letter “s”.  I thought this was going to be an impossible task. How was I supposed to describe my ears, lips, earrings, eyes, or glasses without the letter “s”?!

This style of writing in which a certain letter or group of letters is excluded is called lipogrammatism. Lipogrammatism contains the Greek roots *lipo- meaning lacking or without and –gram meaning something written. The Greek word “gramma” means letter. The word lipogrammatism literally means “lacking a letter.”

For me, this was a challenging assignment. My teacher said that the result was likely to be “odd” and indeed it was. Below is an excerpt of my lipogram:

I have thick, refulgent, long black hair. I have a wide grin with mainly permanent teeth. Each dark chocolate colored ocular organ is framed by long curved blepharal hair.  I detect fragrance or odor with a narrow bridge in the center of my face. Upon the bridge, I wear a purple hued myopia correction device. I have a dimple in my cheek. I wear a tiny, gold hoop earring in each earlobe.

Have any of you written a lipogram before? If so, I would love to read it! Please post a link or paste it onto a comment. For those of you who have never written a lipogram, I challenge you to do this assignment and post it below in the comments.

*The Greek root –lipo also means fat

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petroglyph (pe‧trəˌglif)

Ancient Hawaiians created petroglyphs to express what was important to them.
Pu’u Loa contains approximately 15,000 petroglyphs.
These images engraved onto pahoehoe portray humans.
Petroglyphs can be viewed from the boardwalk which protects and preserves them.

I hope you all enjoyed my previous post on pahoehoe! During our visit to the Big Island of Hawai’i, we hiked over fields of pahoehoe to see the ancient Pu’u Loa petroglyphs in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.

The word petroglyph contains the Greek roots petro– , meaning rock, and glyph, meaning carving or engraving. Petroglyph literally means “rock carving.”

The Pu’u Loa petroglyphs were carved many centuries ago by native Hawaiians. Since the ancient Hawaiians didn’t have a written language, they created petroglyphs to express what was important to each of them. I was in awe of the sheer number of petroglyphs; this site contains approximately 15,000 images that have been engraved in pahoehoe. Some of the images we saw included human forms, insects, and geometric shapes. We spent a lot of time poring over the images and contemplating the meaning behind the petroglyphs.

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eulogy (yüləjē)

Cutest Tibetan Spaniel ever!
Midas was a beautiful Tibetan Spaniel!
Midas loved to relax in his bed!
Midas’ favorite activity was to wait for the mail so he could attack it!

A eulogy is a speech or composition in praise of someone, especially one who has recently passed away. Eulogy comes from the Greek roots eu meaning good and log meaning word. It literally means “good words.”

Midas was an adorable 14-year-old canine member of our family who passed away unexpectedly on July 23, 2015. Midas was a Tibetan Spaniel, an intelligent and loyal breed of dog that originated in the monasteries of Tibet over 2000 years ago. He was a beautiful golden color and was named after King Midas from Greek mythology who had the golden touch.

Midas was the best dog ever! I will miss him sitting near me as I studied for spelling bees or did my homework. He was always the first one to greet my dad with wagging tail and joyful yelps after a long day of work. My sister misses feeling his soft fur and hearing the pitter-patter of his paws on the hardwood floors. My mom will never forget how he needed to hide his stuffed animal pig after he ate.  We all smile thinking about how he would spend a long time trying to figure out where to hide his precious pig, only to hide it in the middle of the floor!

His favorite activity was waiting for the mailman, even on Sunday, so that he could attack the mail as it came through the mail slot. In Tibet, Tibetan Spaniels would perch atop the monastery towers and alert the monks when they saw people approaching. True to his breed, Midas would always alert us when he saw anyone approaching the house. He did not like strangers but he sure did love his family.

We know that Midas loved us as much as we loved him. We are all sad that he is gone, but he will never be forgotten.

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agathokakological (a-gə-thō-ka-kə-lä-ji-kəl)

Darth Vader is agathokakological; he is both good and bad. Image from www.starwars.com

Happy Fourth of July everyone! I hope you all are having a great summer so far. This summer, I plan to watch all of the Star Wars movies again to prepare for the new movie, The Force Awakens, which premieres at  the end of the year. One of the most interesting characters in the series is the agathokakological Darth Vader because he not only looks cool, he is also a skilled pilot as well as an accomplished light saber duelist. Agathokakological is an adjective that means composed of both good and bad. The word comes from the Greek roots agatho meaning good and kako meaning bad.

Darth Vader starts out as Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight who protects the Republic and helps to prevent the Separatists from dominating the galaxy. But then, he is tempted by the Dark Side by Emperor Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious. Sidious corrupts Anakin and successfully turns him to the Dark Side. Anakin then becomes the feared Darth Vader and spreads terror throughout the Empire. However, at the end of the sixth movie, Darth Vader shows that there is still good in him when he saves his son, Luke, from being killed by the evil Darth Sidious. 

Are you a Star Wars fan? If so, who is your favorite character?

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Harry Potter Characters – Argus Filch

Argus Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts, seems to have eyes everywhere, just like Argus Panoptes. Photo from http://www.harrypotter.wikia.com.
Hermes lulls Argus to sleep and slays him as a favor to Zeus. Photo from “Greek Gods and Goddesses”. Dover Coloring Books, Dover Publications, Inc.

Let’s look at another example of how J.K. Rowling incorporates references to Greek mythology in the Harry Potter series.

Argus Filch is the despised caretaker of Hogwarts.  He is named after the Greek mythological character Argus Panoptes, the obedient watchman of Hera. Panoptes comes from the Greek roots pan- meaning all and -opt meaning eye or vision. Argus (the mythological character) had 100 eyes all over his body that enabled him to see everything around him at all times while Argus Filch seems to see everything that is out of place at Hogwarts at all times.  “Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone … and could pop up…suddenly” just in time to catch students breaking rules (Page 133). The students disliked him very much; Harry stated that something “even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch” (Page 132).

Filch’s loyal companion was a cat named Mrs. Norris, who acted as another pair of eyes for him.  The students absolutely detested her because if they broke “a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, … she’d whisk off for Filch”(Page 132) and “…it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick” (Page 133) for she was so annoying.

Quotes cited from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

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