2499: hippocampus: Seahorses, Monsters, & the Brain Oct 15, 2021
The hippocampus is a ridge of the base of the brain thought to control emotion and the nervous system, but it's also the name for the genus a seahorse and a mythical monster. This is because the Ancient Greek ἱππόκαμπος (hippókampos) literally means "horse sea-monster", which in Greek mythology consisted of a mermaid style horse-headed-fish-bodied and often winged creature. Little seahorses took this as a Latin name, despite the non-Latin origins. As far as its connection to the brain goes, this was not immediately obvious and the first descriptions go from the idea of a silkworm or ram's horns—even proposing another myth-based name 'Ammonis'—but did later reference its shape to the seahorse which eventually won out.
2109: echidna Sep 23, 2020
'Echidna' today refers usually to an Australian egg-laying and hedgehog-like mammal, but this was also the name of a sea monster from Greek mythology: half woman and half snake who was the mother to many other Greek mythological monsters. Many people believe that the animal was named for the mythological figure i.e. like a woman who also lays eggs. Others would point to the Greek word 'ekhinos' meaning 'sea-urchin' but originally meaning 'hedgehog', though it is possible this came from or is at least connected to 'ekhis' meaning 'snake (eater)', and if so then the two etymologies are linked.
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1682: Hymen and hymen Jul 23, 2019
The Greek deity of marriage is referred to as Ὑμήν ('hymen') but this is not the express origin the homophone denoting female anatomy. For one thing, the deity was conceptualized as a man, but more importantly the physiological term comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *syu-men- with *syu- meaning 'sew' or 'bring together ('sew' coming from the same root). To be clear, the name of the Greek mythical is estimated to generally come from the same derivation but in the sense of bringing two people together through a wedding itself.