Wimpus~lawiki

:::[[Rudolphus Virchow|Rudolf Virchow]] introduced in 1847 for the first time the terminus technicus ''Leukämie'' in German.<ref name="Kampen2011">Kampen, K.R. (2011). The discovery and early understanding of leukemia. ''Leukemia Research 36'', 6-13.</ref> He derived<ref name="Klein1971">Klein, E. (1971). A comprehensive etymological dictionary of the English language. Dealing with the origin of words and their sense development thus illustration the history of civilization and culture. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science B.V.</ref><ref name="Veen1997">Veen, P.A.F. van, Sijs, N. van der (1997). ''Etymologisch woordenboek. De herkomst van onze woorden.’’ Utrecht/Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie.</ref> this compound noun from Ancient Greek ''leukós'' (λευκός), "white" <ref name="Liddell & Scott">Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press.</ref> and ''haima''(αἷμα), "blood".<ref name="Liddell & Scott"/> It can be translated as ''white blood''<ref name="Roth1897">Roth, O., & Gessler, H. (1897). Klinische terminologie (5. Auflage). Leipzig: Verlag von Arthur Georgi.</ref> or ''white-bloodedness''.<ref name="Klein1971"/> In German the synonym ''Weissblütigkeit'' <ref name="Richter1860"/><ref name="Sliosberg1975">Sliosberg, A. (1975). ''Elsevier’s medical dictionary in five languages. English/American / French / Italian / Spanish and German.'' (2nd Edition). Amsterdam/Oxford/New York: Elsevier’s Scientific Publishing Company.</ref> is also used.

 

 

:::The coinage of Virchow seems to neglect the general rule in Ancient Greek that when a ''k'' (κ) and ''h'' (actually a [[spiritus asper]]) collide, they form a new letter, i.e. the Greek letter [[chi]] (χ) ,<ref name="Kluyver1923">Kluyver, A. (1923). Eenige opmerkingen over termen in de geneeskunde. In H. Pinkhof. ''Vertalend en verklarend woordenboek van uitheemsche geneeskundige termen’’ (pp. VII-XV). Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn.</ref>, usually translitterated by the Romans with ''ch''. The last consonant of the first word, i.e. the ''k'' of leukos, and the ''h'' of ''haima'' should being converted to the letter ''chi''.<ref name="Kluyver1923"/> A few sources explicitely mention this mistake.<ref name="IC1910">International Commission (1910). International classification of causes of sickness and death.'' Washington: Government Printing Office.</ref><ref name="Kossmann1903"/><ref name="Kluyver1923"/> The predecessor of todays ''International Classification of Diseases'' (ICD) from 1910 explicitely states concerning the spelling ''leuchaemia'' "We believe that no other spelling is defensible".<ref name="IC1910"/> However in German, the form ''leuchämie'' <ref name="Knebusch1866"/> can also be found. In Modern Greek it is also written as ''leuchaimia'' (λευχαιμἰα) <ref name="Divry1982">Divry, G.C. (red.) (1982). ''Divry’s modern English-Greek and Greek-English desk dictionary.'' New York: D.C. Divry. Inc., Publishers.</ref><ref name="Lindenburg1989">Lindenburg, M.A. (1989). ''Woordenboek Nieuwgrieks-Nederlands. Delft: Eburon.</ref> This seems mounting evidence for writing ''leuchaemia''.