Patho-logy

Posted by Gary on February 19, 2004

In Reply to: Patho-logy posted by James Briggs on February 19, 2004

: : The hyphenation in the title was intentional. Pathology commonly refers to the science of the study of disease. The suffix "logy" cannotes study or persuasion, and my inference: the root "patho" or some derivative of the word implies disease or maladaption or compulsive aberration. Yet, when I see the word in all its hues, pathetic, pathological etc., I fail to reconcile the lexical foundation of the word patho.

: :
: : Help appreciated.

: As a pathologist, I've always recognised the 'ology' piece as being the suffix and the 'path' being the prefix. However, thinking about it, I guess you're right. Take 'radi-ology', this surely should be 'radio-logy'? English does distort suffixes and prefixes quite often. 'Kilo-metre' is the correct origin but often, sadly pronounced as the dreaded 'kil-ometer'!! It seems that anything which ends in a 'o' will have that 'o' tacked onto the following sylable. 'Thermo-meter'is pronounced as that in German, but 'therm-ometer' in English. Sad.

Yes; my pet grumble is controversy, which often gets pronounced with the emphasis on trov.

• Patho-logy Smokey Stover 19/February/04
  • Patho-logy Bob 19/February/04
    • Patho-logy Smokey Stover 21/February/04