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The Etymology of Liver in Ancient Greek and Latin

2024; Elsevier BV; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jhep.2024.09.042

1600-0641

John Henry, Marvad Ahad,

History of Medicine Studies

In an often-cited review article from the Journal of Hepatology, it has been suggested that the Ancient Greek word for liver (hēpar, ἧπαρ) could possibly originate from the Greek word for "pleasure", hēdonē (ἡδονή).1,2,3,4,5 Although this is incorrect, in some ways the truth is more interesting. In reality, the Ancient Greek and Latin words for liver (hēpar and iecur) always referred to "liver" directly, and neither of them took their root from a different word. On the contrary, both these terms have a common origin from an older word for "liver" in a more ancient language.