Brain: Etymology and Comparative Linguistics
Georg W. Kreutzberg, MD
Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany
Georg W. Kreutzberg received his MD from the University of Freiburg, Germany, in 1961 and his PhD in neuropathology, from the Technical University of Munich Medical School, in 1971. He was director at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology (MPIN) in Martinsried and head of the Department of Neuromorphology from 1977 to 2000. Since then he has continued to follow varied scientific interests at the MPIN after transferring to emeritus status in 2000. |
The first realistic depiction of the human brain
from: Feldbuch der Wundarznei by Hans von Gersdorff (1517)
woodcut illustration by Johann Ulrich Wechtlin (ca. 1480-1526)
Introduction
What is the origin of the noun “brain”, a word used to name the most complex organ in the universe of living objects? The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) defines brain as “an organ of soft nervous tissue contained in the skull of vertebrates, functioning as the coordinating centre of sensation and intellectual and nervous activity”. As early as 500 BC Alkmaion of Kroton, based on anatomical evidence, proposed that the brain was essential for perception, (Doty, 2007). This important early insight did not, however, influence the etymology of words subsequently used to refer to the organ of thinking. In the search for the origin of the word “brain” we encounter interesting relationships to other Indo-European languages. With regard to its meaning, the common denominator is the anatomy of the skull. |
