atheroma

Term: atheroma

Origin: Αθάρη/αθήρη/atheri(=groats, or porridge) + -oma (-noun suffix used usually to form names of tumors or to denote marked growth).  The term derived by the sense of the fatty depost in the inner lining of the artery like an encysted tumor full of gruel-like matter.

Coined: by Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777) in 1755 leading later  to the meaning of atherosclerosis (Scarpa 1804, Lobstein 1833). By Celsus the word was used with the meaning of swelling on the head or a tumor filled with matter.

Definition:

A fatty deposit in the intima of an artery (innermost layer of the wall of an artery), occurring in atherosclerosis.

Runon derivatives :

atherectomy , atherogenesis , atherogenic , atheromatous

atherome , atherosclerosis , atherosclerotic, atherosis

comments:

Source

JO Leibowitz “The history of coronary heart disease”, 1970Volume XVIII, University of California