Musculoskeletal etymology: What’s in a name?

摘要

Medical etymology refers to the origins and developments of medical terms, mostly derived from Greek and Latin languages. A study of etymology helps a physician develop useful insight into body parts and diseases, relating them with the history of mankind. The bones and muscles of the body have an interesting and imaginative etymology, the locomotory system playing a pivotal role in evolution of the human race and cultures. This paper reviews the musculoskeletal etymology as pertaining to orthopaedics, highlighting the resemblance of bones and muscles to day-to-day objects and their interesting applications by early man.