# Any other commonly used terms originate from now defunct scientific theories ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115 "2011-01-26T23:32:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/1 "2011-01-26T23:32:27Z")
The terms “sanguine”, “melancholic”, “choleric” and “phlegmatic” are still commonly used in English, but they are based on [medical theories](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism) that became obsolete centuries ago. Any other terms that are still commonly used that have their origin in defunct scientific theories ? I’ve occasionally heard reference to “the ether” but I’d hardly call it a commonly used term. Any other suggestions ? ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/2 "2011-01-26T23:40:58Z")
Do you have a sense of humor? ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/3 "2011-01-26T23:44:26Z")
“hysteria” - Hippocratic medicine “quintessential” -classical elements “sunrise/sunset/solstice” - geocentric theory “disaster” - astrology “cold” (the disease caused by a viral infection, not by cold) “malaria” (the disease caused by a bacterial infection, not by “bad air”) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/4 "2011-01-26T23:49:18Z")
“Anal” personality, from Freudian psychoanalysis. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/5 "2011-01-26T23:50:28Z")
[Influenza](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza#History). ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/6 "2011-01-26T23:53:03Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > “Anal” personality, from Freudian psychoanalysis. Technically, there are two types of anal personalities in Freud’s theories. Anal-retentive is the one that we currently incorporate into our lexicon. The other, anal-expulsive, isn’t used. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/7 "2011-01-26T23:55:07Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > “quintessential” -classical elements > “disaster” - astrology These two are pretty interesting (and can’t immediately find an description of their origin). Where do they come from ? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/8 "2011-01-26T23:58:53Z")
Oh and one obvious one I just remember is [Lunatic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunatic#Lunar_hypothesis). Though according to the wiki page there might actually be a kernel of truth to this idea: > [@](#): > > In a 1999 Journal of Affective Disorders article, a hypothesis was suggested indicating that the phase of the moon may in the past have had an effect on bipolar patients by providing light during nights which would otherwise have been dark, and affecting susceptible patients through the well-known route of sleep deprivation.[1] With the introduction of electric light, this effect would have gone away, as light would be available every night, explaining the negative results of modern studies. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/9 "2011-01-27T00:16:09Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > These two are pretty interesting (and can’t immediately find an description of their origin). Where do they come from ? “quintessence” is the “quinta essentia” or fifth element, which is heavenly, pure and immutable unlike the mundane 4 elements of earth, air, water and fire. “disaster” (like the equivalent concepts, “ill-starred” and “star-crossed”) comes from the idea that the alignment of heavenly bodies determines your fate. It originates in Italian “disastrato” where “dis-” is a prefix with the same meaning as in English and “-astrato” means “starred”. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/10 "2011-01-27T01:43:41Z")
Ominous (from Omen) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/11 "2011-01-27T01:55:25Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Oh and one obvious one I just remember is [Lunatic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunatic#Lunar_hypothesis). > > Though according to the wiki page there might actually be a kernel of truth to this idea… [And according to Cecil there might not.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/552/do-things-get-crazy-when-the-moon-is-full) ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/12 "2011-01-27T02:02:32Z")
Ethernet - Intentionally chosen to hearken back to the luminiferous ether through which all electromagnetic waves were supposed to propagate. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/13 "2011-01-27T03:46:37Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > The terms “sanguine”, “melancholic”, “choleric” and “phlegmatic” are still commonly used in English, but they are based on [medical theories](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism) that became obsolete centuries ago. I’m not sure I agree that any of these, except sanguine, are commonly used, but terms linked to them certainly are. . . Melancholy, cholera, phlegm, etc. Anyway, that said, I got nothin’ else. The ones others have found though, are interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/14 "2011-01-27T03:51:05Z")
[Animal magnetism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_magnetism) and mesmerized, from the theories of [Franz Mesmer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Mesmer). ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/15 "2011-01-27T03:59:26Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > …“sanguine”, “melancholic”, “choleric” and “phlegmatic”… In that same family, “splenetic,” although that’s not so common. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/16 "2011-01-27T05:09:26Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > “malaria” (the disease caused by a bacterial infection, not by “bad air”) I apologize for the nit being picked, but that’s a “parasitic”, and not bacterial, infection. [Plasmodium](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmodium). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/17 "2011-01-27T05:18:38Z")
> [@Bartman](#): > > Ethernet - Intentionally chosen to hearken back to the luminiferous ether through which all electromagnetic waves were supposed to propagate. This is interesting because the name was coined well after the theory it refers to was debunked. I can’t think of any other term that fits that criterion. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/18 "2011-01-27T06:02:49Z")
Antediluvian. Caucasian. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/19 "2011-01-27T06:55:20Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > “quintessence” is the “quinta essentia” or fifth element, which is heavenly, pure and immutable unlike the mundane 4 elements of earth, air, water and fire. Interesting. How has that come to mean “the epitome of” ? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115/20 "2011-01-27T07:04:51Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > [And according to Cecil there might not.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/552/do-things-get-crazy-when-the-moon-is-full) Its not relevant to the OP, but the paper quoted in the wiki article made the point that any affect would be cancelled out by electric lighting so could not be observable in modern society (hence why, as Cecil points out, there is no link between lunar cycles and mental problems nowadays). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-commonly-used-terms-originate-from-now-defunct-scientific-theories/569115.md?page=2)