In article <nna-0603971103550001 at news>, A.J.Cann <nna at le.ac.uk> wrote:
>>So how do you pronounce apoptosis? Is it:
The word derives from the greek roots "apo" and "ptosis". ("Apo" meaning
away from, and "ptosis" means fall, or droop. The word originally was
coined with the annual falling of the leaves in mind, as an example of
programmed cell death, although I think it's now known that this actually
isn't a case of classic apoptosis.)
The "p" in "ptosis" is silent--compare "pterodactyl", for example--and the
original suggestion was that therefore the second "p" in "apoptosis"
should be silent: "apo-tosis". I believe that the guy who coined the word
(Andrew Wiley, I think? -Or perhaps Wiley in cooperation with a classics
professor at Cambridge) pronounces it without the "p". There are a
number of examples which support this pronunciation, and it's the way I
personally pronouce it. Another advantage of the silent "p" is the snob
appeal, of course; it shows you're a thoughtful and literate scientist
who is deeply concerned about the important things in life, like classical
greek.
Over the last couple of years, though, there has been a mild controversy
on this in the letters column of Nature, and unfortunately for the
silent-p theory, one of the letters to Nature pointed out that the word
"helicopter", by that reasoning, should be pronounced "helico-ter", since
of course the "pter" is derived from the greek for wing, which has a
silent "p". I find this a pretty convincing argument, and have stopped
sneering as much when I hear the "apop-tosis" pronunciation--but I'm
still sticking with the silent "p".
I also had a mild discussion on the pronunciation of the word with Brian
Leber, at McMaster University, who firmly put me in my place by observing
that the pronunciation depended on whether you were using New or Old
Classic Greek. I nodded thoughtfully, stroked my chin, and scurried away
as soon as possible. I'm still not quite sure if he was bluffing or not.
Ian
--
Ian York (iayork at panix.com) <http://www.panix.com/~iayork/>
"-but as he was a York, I am rather inclined to suppose him a
very respectable Man." -Jane Austen, The History of England
