Whats the relationship between the disease cancer and the animal crab? These are similar words in just about every European language. I dont understand the connection.
Perhaps it’s because of the crabby shape of a bad tumor, with all the little tenril-y things.
That’s always the explanation I’ve heard.
It’s all Hippocrates’s fault: he named the disease “karkinos,” which is Greek for crab. Latin adopted the word as “cancri,” which leads to our modern word “cancer.”
http://www.hoag.org/Cancer/CancerBasics.html
There is an old legend that Hercules was attacked by a crab (at Hera’s direction) during his battle with the Hydra. This attack (and the tenaciousness of crabs) may also be responsible for the disease’s name.
It could have been worse.
Can you imagine being diagnosed with skin lobster?
Maybe the seafood industry should take a hint from the astrology industry and change the name of the delicacy to “Moon Child”.
'Course that might piss off all of the Neverending Story Fans.
Or piling the kids in the car for a trip to eat at good ol’ “Red Cancer”…
Whew. I was thinking this was going to be about a whole other disease…
Here’s a page that talks about the history of cancer:
http://www.chemheritage.org/EducationalServices/pharm/chemo/readings/timeline.htm
It has this explanation of where the name came from:
Thus making the delicacy lobster tail butt cancer.
I’m a Cancer. Which is a disease.
Cancers are crabs-another disease.