Etymology

I wrote once before on medical terminology and nomenclature. I'm not a huge fan of it but I learned something interesting. I don't think this is a hard and fast rule, but Latin words may be favored for anatomy while Greek words are favored for pathology. For example, Latin for bladder is vesic for vesicouterine pouch, but Greek for bladder is cyst for cystitis and cystocele. Latin for breast is mammo for mammogram; Greek is mast for mastitis. Eyelid is palpebr in Latin (palpebral fissure) and blephar in Greek (blepharospasm). Fingers are digit (Latin) or dactyl (Greek); lungs are pulmon (Latin) or pneumo (Greek). It explains why you have an umbilical cord but a developmental defect is an omphalocele. Or why there is a lingual tonsil but glossitis. Or why uterine pathology is assessed with a hysteroscope. This is why the peroneus (Greek) muscles should instead be called the fibularis (Latin) muscles.

All information here was taken from Wikipedia.