Given that humans have a bonnie few body part , it ’s understandable that anatomists had to get a bit creative when it came to name them . That being said , some of those names are downright odd – so where did they get from ?
Coccyx
well known as the tailbone , the coccyx is the final section of the spine , and a reminder of how evolution does n’t always knowhow to tidy up after itself . It ’s made up of between three and five ivory fused together into a curve triangle form that bespeak at the end .
The ancient Greeks thought this looked a scrap like a cuckoo ’s beak , though their Scripture for it was “ kokkux ” and over time , that transformed into the Latin word coccyx .
Hippocampus
The ancient Greeks seem to have had a affair for name body parts after what they reckon like , and in the grammatical case of thehippocampus , that looks like a seahorse . Their term for it was “ hippokampos ” , which is an amalgamation of “ hippos ” , mean horse , and “ kampos ” , think of “ sea monster ” .
The anatomical snuffbox
Ok , the anatomical snuffbox isn’tactuallycalled that if we ’re being technical about it – anatomist would call it the foveola radialis – but why on Earth would that indent you see below your thumb when you flex your helping hand be call off that ?
It ’s one of those terms where it ’s what it enounce on the tin – or in this case , a snuffbox . Back in the day whensnorting sniff was a thing , this little depression made a ready to hand ( wahey ) place to pop your ground tobacco plant .
Tragus
The tragus is that little flapping of cartilage on the ear that ’s get in touch to the side of the face , but the origins of the word have far more to do with the tussock of pilus that can seem behind it than what it ’s in reality made of .
Tragus is the Latin transformation of the Hellenic word “ tragos ” , meaning goat . According to 18thcentury Flemish surgeonJan Palfijn , it come to be associated with the small nub on the capitulum because “ it is the site of hairs similar to those of a billy laughingstock ” .
Philtrum
For the trivia rooter out there , you probably already make love what a philtrum is . If you ’re not a walk encyclopedia , however , it ’s thatsmall groovebetween your nose and your mouth – and in times gone past , people conceive it was sexy as fuck .
The earliest known instance of the use of the word philtrum is in theearly 1600sand in this form , it ’s a Latin tidings . However , its origins lie in the Greek Book “ philtron ” , meaning “ love potion ” .
That ’s because the ancient Greeks considered the philtrum to be one of the mosterogenous spotson the body . Whatever floats your boat , I guess .
