(Part of a series based upon Stiles, The Anatomy of Medical Terminology (Radix Antiqua 2015; ISBN 978-1-988941-240)
THE CHILDREN OF P-OSTE-UM
THE CHILDREN OF P-OSTE-UM
Near
the end of the "parent" Post we were looking at considerations
arising from the concept of synonymity. Synonyms
will be explored more fully in another post, but for now it may be observed
that apparently synonymous forms
sometimes result in divergent meanings. This can be observed in one of the synonym
groups derived from P-OSTE-UM, the
one in which P- denotes one of the three
synonymous prefixes translated as "outside."
Specifically, while the indirect evidence
for the existence of the real words *EX-oste-um
and *ECT-oste-um ("the part
OUTSIDE a bone") is that both EX-ost-osis
and ECT-oste-al are attested (as
discussed previously), the following word shows a divergent meaning:
ECT-ost-osis <defined in "the dictionary" as if
=
*ect-ostE-OST-osis>
*ect-ostE-OST-osis the ossification of
something
outside a bone
=
the *ECT-ostE-um
Although
we thus still postulate the synonymous noun we first derived from ECT-oste-al, the confusion arising here,
from the (mistakenly) perceived synonymity between oste- (with osse-, as
well as oss-), on the one hand, and -ost-, on the other, is the error pointed
out way back in Post 2: because the dependable meaning of words of the form
X-OST-osis is the
ossification of X
(See
The Anatomy of Medical Terminology, Chapter
3, numbers 2-3),
this rule or formula would traditionally have
pre-empted the use of -ost-
(especially in the sequence X-ost-osis)
as a synonym for the other forms.
But
an even more convoluted situation arises in the (already inherently more
convoluted) case of our indirectly attested word *SYN-oste-um. As I hinted
previously, some mental gymnastics are required just to get from the meanings
implied by our word-parts to the dictionary definition "joint." To do this, we need to go back a few steps
and try to rewrite the "basic definition" of P-oste-um, keeping in mind our starting premises, but being willing
to "torture" the English a bit:
P-oste-um "a P-bone
thing"
= the part located in
relation to a bone
in
the way indicated by P-
For
example:
end-oste-um "an INSIDE-the-bone
thing"
=
the part INSIDE a bone
peri-oste-um "a surrounding-the-bone
thing"
=
the part SURROUNDING a bone
*ECT-oste-um "an OUTSIDE-the-bone thing"
=
the part OUTSIDE a bone
This logic, applied to our word, suggests
the following sequence:
*SYN-oste-um "a WITH-the-bone thing"
(or,
admittedly by a leap)
"a
TOGETHER-bones thing"
=
"a bones-TOGETHER-thing"
=
a joint
Two
points arise. First, uses and abuses of
the prefix syn- are one small example
of some problematically-coined word-sets in medical terminology (future
posts!), but "strained" "conceptual leaps" like the ones we
are forced to make here are unfortunately fairly frequently necessary in
contemporary Latglish. Second, the
dictionary definition "joint" for syn-oste-
is probably an oversimplification: given that the usual combining form for that
body-part is arthr-,
it is likely that the term syn-oste- was originally designed to
focus upon the actual, or specific, "bone-joining" which forms what
is called, more generally, a "joint."
Be
that as it may, our torturous interpretation here seems to be right, as it
allows us to make an effective analysis that works for both the following
well-attested words:
SYN-oste-otomy "the cutting of a joint"
=
"the cutting of a bones-TOGETHER-thing"
SYN-oste-ology "the study of joints"
=
"the study of bones-TOGETHER-things."
But
the difficulty--the "convolutions"--is surely partly responsible for
the fact that another set of attested words seems to point directly to X-ost-osis instead. Here is the evidence:
syn-ostE-osis [see] syn-ost-osis
syn-ostE-otic [see] syn-ost-otic
syn-ost-otic pertaining to syn-ost-osis
syn-ost-osis "the fusing of bones"
Thus this definition--the dictionary one--seems
to be at least "contaminated" by the concept of
"ossification," if not outright derived somehow or other from
x-ost-osis the ossification of x,
rather than from our hypothetical *syn-oste-um! To put this differently, syn-ost-osis (with its dictionary definition) perhaps represents a
cluster of ideas looking for a P-oste-um
to hold it together--to realize it--perhaps a word like
*syn-oste-ost-osis the ossification of
"a bones-together thing"
We might be reminded here that our
speculations about the parallel case of ect-ost-osis
at the beginning of this Post led us to a hypothetical
*ect-oste-ost-osis the ossification of
something
outside a bone
Perhaps the real truth is that there does
exist yet another "template" or word pattern, namely
*P-oste-ost-osis the ossification of
P-oste-um
= something located in the relation
to a bone
specified by P-
--a "template" which is
consistently misunderstood by its users, resulting in the anomalous forms P-ost-osis.
But
it would be very difficult to be certain about this; sadly, more and more such
ill-formed words are appearing in the vocabulary, of the kind that we were
calling "invalid" back in the "Fighting Words" Post.
This
particular source of confusion is perhaps worsened by what may be an overall tendency to simplify things, manifested here
by a trend towards replacing -ostE-
by the shorter -ost-. If so, like many simplifications, this one
rests upon an error which is bound to result in needless confusions.
Examination
of our largest set of attested words of the form P-oste-Z (where -Z stands
for any ending at all, and where none of the words show "contamination"
by the concept of "ossification") shows that -oste- is still the "preferred form" (the one to which
any alternate is cross-referenced), in all but two words. Here are all of the main-entry words in
questions, with (as usual) the translations we would expect our students to
present:
peri-oste-al surrounding a bone
<students
might also have--equally plausibly--generated
pertaining
to
something
surrounding a bone>
peri-oste-oma a tumor involving
something
surrounding a bone
peri-oste-edema the swelling of
something
surrounding a bone
peri-osteo-medull-itis the inflammation of the marrow and
something
surrounding a bone
peri-osteo-myel-itis the inflammation of the marrow and
something
surrounding a bone
peri-osteo-phyte a growth on
something
surrounding a bone
peri-oste-otomy the cutting of
something
surrounding a bone
peri-oste-otome an instrument for cutting
something
surrounding a bone
peri-oste-ous pertaining to
something
surrounding a bone
<students
might also have--equally plausibly--generated
surrounding
a bone>
In four of these cases, an alleged synonym
in peri-ost- is cross-referenced to
the -ostE- form; but the two words
which are cross-referenced the other way are the following (with the defined
main entries included, for completeness):
peri-ostE-itis [see] peri-ost-itis
peri-ostE-osis [see] peri-ost-osis
peri-ost-itis the inflammation of
something
surrounding a bone
peri-ost-osis an abnormal condition involving
something
surrounding a bone
The
implication will be clear to anyone who has spent too much time inside a
medical dictionary: the two most frequently occurring diagnoses in all of
medicine (at least as revealed by the dictionary) are those named X-osis and X-itis. The fact that in our
group, it is the "frequent flyer" words peri-ost-ITIS and peri-ost-OSIS
that are edging out the older, "more correct" forms in -ostE- seems to confirm that the erroneous--and
therefore alarming--trend I speculated about above is for real.
On
that note, two more dictionary entries associated with the word periosteum are worth pointing out, with
commentary:
peri-ost-oste-itis [see] osteo-peri-ost-itis
osteo-peri-ost-itis <defined in the dictionary as if the
word were
*peri-ostE-ostE-itis>
*peri-ostE-ostE-itis the inflammation of a bone and
something
surrounding a bone
The second entry bears the additional note "also
called periosteitis." Now this is all a bit confusing. Were the coiners shooting for something
analogous to a version of the hypothetical template postulated above, namely a
*peri-OSTE-ost-itis modelled upon our
*P-oste-ost-osis? If so, they missed pretty badly, not only
putting the word-parts in not just one but two different wrong orders, but also
getting the translation completely wrong!--
*peri-oste-ost-itis the inflammation of something involving
the
ossification of
something
surrounding a bone
Finally, meditate upon the future as
perhaps indicated by this--
peri-ost [see] peri-oste-um
-
o -
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