Ontogeny

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Ontogeny

Postby Slava » Sat Aug 30, 2014 11:59 am

Here is the Good Word of the day for 8-29-14:

• ontogeny •

Pronunciation: ahn-tah-jê-ni • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. The development of an individual organism through its stages of growth. 2. The study of such development, often restricted to the study of embryology.

Notes: Today's word is synonymous with ontogenesis [ahn-tê-gen-i-sis] and is the antonym of phylogeny "the development of a species over time or the study thereof". The adjective, ontogenetic, clarifies the fact that we are talking about genetically determined development. Get your doctor's full attention at your next checkup by asking him or her to verify that your ontogeny is on track.

In Play: Today's word may be most closely associated with the biological myth created by Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), when he declared that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny", in other words, the stages of development of an individual human embryo (ontogeny) reflect the stages of historical development of humans from the single cell onward (phylogeny). Although this notion now seems factually untrue, it is still repeated. Fortunately, Haeckel lived to create the terms phylum, phylogeny, and ecology, which have proven more useful.

Word History: This word is the English adaptation of Modern Latin ontogenia from Greek ont- "being," present participle of eimi "to be" + geneia "producing", so the original meaning of today's word was "producing (a) being". The Greek root gen- "give birth, produce" has found its way into many English words referring to birth, including genes, generate, genesis, and genius. The same root without the vowel, gn-, is found in pregnant, the state of prebirth. In English it became kin, kind, and king, from Old English cyning. German Kind "child," as in kindergarten "children-garden", shares the same source. (Let us generate some gratitude for Tom Myers for suggesting we develop today's Good Word for our series.)
Image

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: Ontogeny

Postby Philip Hudson » Thu Oct 09, 2014 5:53 pm

Ernst Haeckel's "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" is still strongly held in some circles. I am glad Haeckel has other linguistic creations to his credit. Ecology is the word for today from Haeckel's corner. It amazes me that some among us discount ecology and are so offensively trashy - present company excepted.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Audiendus, Bing [Bot] and 52 guests