2596: crab, crib, & carve Jan 23, 2022

The word 'crab' is ultimately traced back to the Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- meaning 'to twist; to scratch; to claw', but so are 'carve', 'crib', and 'crèche'. Much of this has to do with leading to varied understanding, such as 'crab' and 'crayfish’ from Proto-Germanic *krabbô (to crawl) as opposed to 'crib' from Proto-Germanic *kribjǭ (wickerwork, basket) from the sense of twisting & weaving material. This led to a sense of 'clump; group' and then 'crèche' was born. 'Carve' is from the sense of this word as scratching, and is related to the Old Prussian gīrbin (number) from the idea of tallying.

2594: cancer & crabs Jan 21, 2022

Cancer is known to be related to crabs because of the zodiac symbol, but the relation is much deeper in fact. The word 'cancer', which now particularly associated with the disease, is because the enlarged veins around cancerous tumors were thought to look like the the legs of crabs. In Latin 'cancer' means 'crab', which itself is from Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos) via metathesis. This is also where the word 'canker' is from, as well as 'chancre', both types of ulcers.