title: Greek language: analysis of the cardiologic anatomical etymology: past and present.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Greek language, the root of most Latin anatomical terms, is deeply present in the Anatomical Terminology. Many studies seek to analyze etymologically the terms stemming from the Greek words. In most of these studies, the terms appear defined according to the etymological understanding of the respective authors at the time of its creation. Therefore, it is possible that the terms currently used are not consistent with its origin in ancient Greek words.
  
  
  METHODS
  We selected cardiologic anatomical terms derived from Greek words, which are included in the International Anatomical Terminology. We performed an etymological analysis using the Greek roots present in the earliest terms. We compared the cardiologic anatomical terms currently used in Greece and Brazil to the Greek roots originating from the ancient Greek language. We used morphological decomposition of Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes. We also verified their use on the same lexicons and texts from the ancient Greek language.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We provided a list comprising 30 cardiologic anatomical terms that have their origins in ancient Greek as well as their component parts in the International Anatomical Terminology. We included the terms in the way they were standardized in Portuguese, English, and Modern Greek as well as the roots of the ancient Greek words that originated them.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Many works deal with the true origin of words (etymology) but most of them neither returns to the earliest roots nor relate them to their use in texts of ancient Greek language. By comparing the world's greatest studies on the etymology of Greek words, this paper tries to clarify the differences between the true origin of the Greek anatomical terms as well as the origins of the cardiologic anatomical terms more accepted today in Brazil by health professionals.
authors.affiliation: São José do Rio Preto Medical School, São José do Rio Preto, SP, Brasil. gbezas23@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bezas
authors.forename: Alexandre Lins
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Werneck
mesh_terms: D000715:Anatomy; D002309:Cardiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D009626:Terminology as Topic