New Geological Terms and False Etymology

Etymology of Statistical and Probabilistic Terms

The following etymologies for statistical terms were mainly extracted/modified from http://www.etymonline.com/ unless otherwise attributed, e.g., (Wikipedia). My interest in making this collection was triggered by looking up the etymology of the common English word “average,” which is quite different from the corresponding German term “Durchschnitt” (cut through). Another early example was the ...

Etymology, history, and artifacts

Elliptic really does have a connection with literal geometric ellipses, removed by a few steps. Integrals expressing arc length of ellipses are less elementary than integrals for inverse trigonometric functions, and were named elliptic because of this. Abel and Jacobi discovered in 1827 that the inverse functions are doubly periodic (explained below). This chain of events caused these functions...

Medical Etymology

False Dawns and New Horizons in Patient Safety Research and Practice

In response to a weight of evidence that patients are frequently harmed as a result of their care, there have been concerted efforts to make healthcare safer, with health systems across the globe investing significant resources in policies and programmes designed to reduce adverse events. Yet, despite extensive efforts, improvements in safety have proved difficult to sustain and spread, with st...

Etymology of Cholera

1. Gray KJ, Kafulafula G, Matemba M, Kamdolozi M, Membe G, French N, et al. Streptococcus and HIV infection in pregnant women, Malawi, 2008–2010. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011;17:1932–5. 2. Epalza C, Goetghebuer T, Hainaut M, Prayez F, Barlow P, Dediste A, et al. High incidence of invasive group B streptococcal infections in HIV-exposed uninfected infants. Pediatrics. 2010;126:e631–8. http://dx.doi.or...