Etymology
Ossicle dates to c. 1570, from Latin Ossiculum, a diminutive of Latin Os "bone" (Genitive: Ossis). The malleus gets its name from Latin malleus, meaning "hammer", the Incus gets its name from Latin Incus meaning "anvil" from incudere meaning "to forge with a hammer", and the Stapes gets its name from Modern Latin "stirrup," probably an alteration of Late Latin Stapia related to stare "to stand" and pedem, an accusative of pes "foot", so called because the bone is shaped like a stirrup - this was an invented Modern Latin word for "stirrup," for which there was no classical Latin word, as the ancients did not use stirrups.
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
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“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)