8/3/07

Coracoid, from the Greek korone, crow, and -oides, shape.

The coracoid process of the scapula was named by the Galen in the 2nd century A.D for its resemblance to the beak of a crow or raven, or so the story goes. However, the process doesn't really resemble anything of the sort: the coracoid has a prominent hook and a blunt tip; neither feature is seen in a corvid's beak. It quite possible that Galen's inspiration instead was the hooked appearance of the process: korone was also used for any number of structures with bent shapes, including door handles and, in the Illiad, for the curved keel at the end of the boat bows.

"Coronoid", as in the coronoid processes of the mandible and ulna, is also derived from korone. But like the coracoid above, these structures too may have been named, by persons unknown, for their slightly hooked shape.


Lateral view of
the left scapula;
Modified from www.scoi.com/sholanat.htm

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