The Power of the Greek Root Word Haima, Haimatos: Blood
Thinking about the word cardiology and that which the cardiac pump does for one (via the Greek root word kardia: heart), one naturally moves on to the circulatory system and the primary fluid which runs through the veins, arteries, and capillaries, the predominant root word for which stems from Greek:
Haima, haimatos—blood em, -emia, haemo-, hem, hemat-, hemato-, hemo-
In this article and subsequent discussions, I will divulge the fascinating etymologies using this Greek root word and its multiple spelling permutations.
If one is anemic, or afflicted with anemia, one is etymologically "without blood," via the Greek prefix a, an: without (note as well that the Latin suffix -ia means "an abnormal or pathological condition," contained in such pathologies as hemophilia, amnesia, insomnia, anorexia, paranoia, hysteria, pneumonia, hypochondria, aphasia, bulimia, neuralgia, mastalgia, and myopia). Hence, if one is deficient in blood, it is easy to see that anemia can refer to deficiencies in hemoglobin count, and/or erythrocyte count or volume per unit of blood.
Hemoglobin (short for hematinoglobulin), deriving also from the Latin root word globus (sphere, somewhat spherical mass) refers to a molecule that consists of four globular protein subunits (dubbed alpha and beta) that provide a structure for ferrous heme groups that bond oxygen atoms to themselves by means of iron and in such a way acts as the primary carrier or transport system of oxygen in the blood stream (for an informative article vis a vis hemoglobin, please check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoglobin where you will discover via some fairly sophisticated illustrations that illuminate very well why the Greek word for blood and the Latin word for sphere were used to coin this word).
Hemophilia (or the British English version haemophilia) is a fairly rare (about 1 in 10,000) ailment or pathological condition primarily present among males, where the blood fails to clot normally; the blood thereby is deficient in clotting factors, such as platelet count and other coagulatory agents. Note that the word itself, other than the Greek word for blood, also contains the common Greek root word philein, "to love." Hence, a hemophiliac is someone who "loves blood" because they lose it so readily, and hence need more and more. Note that a deficiency in coagulation factor VIII is the most common cause of hemophilia.
A hemorrhoid arrives via the Greek verb rhein to flow (also giving us words such as diarrhea, amenorrhea, and rheumatism); hence, a hemorrhoid is an excessive "flowing of the blood," which causes a tumid mass of swollen anal tissue (that is, blood flowing where it should not be), which is the same problem found in a hemorrhage, which is even worse since it refers to blood gushing out of a blood vessel when it should not be, such as a brain hemorrhage. A hemorrhage can also refer to a large loss of anything, such as share values hemorrhaging in a severe bear market.
Hematology is the study of the blood and those hematogenous organs that produce the blood, a vast discipline which the hematologist makes her life study of, that is, the study of diseases and disorders of the blood and the blood-forming tissues. I will discuss the pathology of blood related to its etymological origins in my next post.
n.b. The Latin root for blood, sanguis, sanguinis, has been largely ignored by the medical community. The most useful word that comes from this root word is sanguine, so named because an abundance of the medieval humor ‘blood’ was thought to make someone sanguine, or ‘cheerful’ and ‘optimistic.’
Note that all of the above Greek and Latin root words can be more fully analyzed at www.wordempire.com, where the core of the English language is revealed and demystified.
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