One of the things I enjoy about my job is that I learn new things, and visit corners of the Internet I never knew existed. (Conversely, one of the things I dislike about my job is that I learn things I didn’t want to know, and see things I’d rather not see, in dark corners of the Internet that should remain dark. But I digress.)
This morning I was evaluating a search for “herpes,” and it occurred to me to wonder what the connection is between the disease and reptiles and amphibians (the study of which is called “herpetology”). And lo, a definition supplied the answer! The word root, from the Greek, means “creeping”; reptiles and amphibians creep on the ground, and the disease “creeps” along nerve pathways. How cool!
Very cool!
vhaecky
April 5th, 2008