Anatomy is full of eponyms — that is, words inspired by the name of a person. For examples, there are the fallopian tubes, the Achilles heel, and the eustachian tubes. But there’s a movement in anatomy to replace eponyms with more scientific, descriptive names. Thus, fallopian tubes are now uterine tubes and eustachian tubes are auditory tubes. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Anatomical Eponyms”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
If you’ve ever had a youngster with an ear infection, then you know the term eustachian tube. It’s what we call an eponym, one of those words that come directly from the name of a person. And that little passageway in your ear, the eustachian tube, is named for Bartolomeo Eustochio. He’s the 16th century Italian who supposedly discovered it.
Chances are you know a lot of anatomical eponyms. Fallopian tubes, they’re named for another 16th century Italian guy, Gabriello Fallopio. And then there’s your Achilles tendon and your Adam’s apple. Both of those are eponyms because they derive from someone’s name.
But what I didn’t know until recently is that there’s a movement among professionals in the field of anatomy to get rid of eponyms altogether. The idea is let’s forget the person who inspired the name for this or that body part, and instead let’s replace it with a term that’s purely descriptive.
So, for example, these days a lot of anatomy students aren’t taught that it’s the eustachian tube. It’s now the auditory tube. And those aren’t fallopian tubes anymore. They’re the uterine tubes. It’s not your Achilles tendon. It’s your calcaneal tendon. And it’s not even your Adam’s apple anymore. That’s your laryngeal prominence.
And I find this fascinating. Apparently these changes are being pushed in part because the newer terms are more specific and they’re easier to teach to students from all over the world, and they’re more accurate. I mean, we don’t really know if Eustachio is the guy who discovered those little ear tubes. He might have just been better at getting publicity for his work.
And I’ve been thinking about all of this because of a conversation Grant and I happen to have with a professor of anatomy and physiology here at San Diego’s Miramar College. Dr. Kevin Petty told us that in 20 years of teaching, he’s seen undergraduate anatomical texts go from being full of eponyms and then later listing both the eponym and the new term, and now not even listing the eponym at all.
And, of course, Grant and I were nerdy enough to get really excited about this conversation, remember? Yeah. Because it’s such a great instance of watching language shifting right beneath our feet or right beneath our calcaneal tendons and metatarsals and all that. I mean, it’s really a fascinating moment, right?
Yeah, it could take decades or even generations to go from one set of terms to another set of terms, right? Yeah, and I think there’s a certain amount of loss when you lose those historical figures. The old terms are colorful, and yet I appreciate the fact that you need something more descriptive to communicate to people who might not understand the history of those words.
Let’s face it, fallopian is a little opaque unless you know the history behind it, right? Yeah, yeah, but I think there’s this whole generation. Well, there are many generations of people who understand that term, but that’s not going to be the case in the future. I don’t think that they’ll disappear. They’ll always remain in the text some way. They’ll be in a glossary. There’ll be some kind of cross-reference. They’ll always be there. A little footnote, a little asterisk. A little footnote.
Tell us how the language of your profession has changed or is changing. 877-929-9673 or words@waywordradio.org.
