Patho-logy

Posted by Sathyaish on February 19, 2004

The hyphenation in the title was intentional. Pathology commonly refers to the science of the study of disease. The suffix "logy" cannotes study or persuasion, and my inference: the root "patho" or some derivative of the word implies disease or maladaption or compulsive aberration. Yet, when I see the word in all its hues, pathetic, pathological etc., I fail to reconcile the lexical foundation of the word patho.

Help appreciated.