neurology

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin neurologia,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which the OED takes from Ancient Greek νευρολογία (neurología), used by Thomas Willis in a Latin context in his “Cerebri Anatome” (1664);^[7] Klein thinks Willis probably coined the word.^[8] It is formed from νευρο- (neuro-), the combining form of νεῦρον (neûron, “nerve, sinew”),^[7][3][9] and -λογία (-logía, “study”).^[7][6][8] French had névrologie (1690) and neurologie (1691).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The systematic arrangement of the nerves: 1670, in Henry Stubbe.^[7] Barnhart dates the word, as neurologie, to 1681,^[2] and Etymonline to the 1680s.^[6]

Semantic evolution

At first the word was anatomical: the arrangement of the nerves, or the nervous system itself (until 1830); it also meant a treatise on the nervous system between 1704 and 1801.^[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as a description of the nerves.^[9] The modern sense, the science of the nervous system, is recorded from 1878,^[7] and it has since come to mean especially the branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the nervous system.^[7][4] The derivatives neurologist (1832) and neurological (1755) are older than that sense.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1670 – the arrangement of the nerves; the nervous system (obsolete by 1830).^[7]
• 1681 – neurologie.^[2]
• 1704 – a treatise on the nervous system (obsolete by 1801).^[7]
• 1755 – the adjective neurological.^[6]
• 1832 – neurologist.^[2]
• 1878 – the science of the nervous system; later the branch of medicine dealing with its diseases.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The branch of medicine that deals with the nervous system and its disorders: She specialized in neurology after her residency.^[10][3][7]
2. The scientific study of the structure and functions of the nervous system.^[3][10]

Word family

• neurologic
• neurologically
• neurologist

Related words

• neuritis
• neurodegenerative
• neuropathy
• neuropsychology
• neuroscience
• neurosurgery

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins