![]() Indeed, the scientific term cornu Ammonis-meaning “Ammon’s horn” and harking back to the Egyptian god Ammon (or Amon), who often appeared in the form of a ram-is now used to refer to different parts or “fields” of the hippocampal formation. However, Arantius also debated whether it looked more like a seahorse or a silkworm-and the anatomists who continued his work through the early- to mid-1700s continued to debate whether the peculiarly-shaped protrusion of the hippocampus ought to be referred to as a silkworm, a dolphin, or a ram’s horn. Giulio Cesare Aranzi, 1530-1589), a surgeon and anatomist whose pioneering work in the field included discovering different anatomical structures of the human body, discovered the part of the brain in question and compared its appearance to-you guessed it-a hippocampus, or seahorse. Hippocampus is also the name of the genus to which all seahorses belong. Well, in Greek, Latin, and even historically in English, hippocampus meant “seahorse,” due to the fact that seahorses are tiny adorable horsey-looking sea monsters. So what do horselike sea monsters have to do with brain bits? ![]() Water Dragon or Cetacean which is usually mermaid style. Some people even believe that they have a unicorn horn. In Greek and Roman mythology, hippocampus/kampos often referred specifically to the aquatic equestrian creatures that pulled Poseidon/Neptune’s chariot. Hippocampi, or hippokampos, are mythical creatures of the sea. (Interestingly, kampos is also likely related to the Greek kampe, or “caterpillar.”) and the tail of a fish (Greek Mythology): The smaller, hippocampus minor. The word itself is an English adoption of the Late Latin hippocampus, from the Greek hippokampos, which is comprised of hippos (“horse,” as anyone with any familiarity with etymology probably already knows) + kampos (“sea monster”). A part of the brain located inside the temporal lobe, consisting mainly of. It is vital for consolidating information from short-term memory to long-term memory and for spatial navigation, so damage to it (such as that from Alzheimer’s or oxygen deprivation) results in memory loss and disorientation. As part of the limbic system, it plays a role in controlling emotion, memory and the nervous system. But the context surrounding why the hippocampus got its name is surprisingly fascinating:Īs you may know, the hippocampus is a component of the vertebrate brain located in the medial temporal lobe. I know, this one seems sort of obvious-and maybe even common knowledge-given the compound structure and recognizable roots. The part of the brain is named after its resemblance to a seahorse, though the term was debated for many years before it became more common in the medical field. ![]() Hippocampus, which literally means “horselike sea monster,” was also another word for a seahorse. ![]()
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