History and etymology (article structure)

Last revised by Dr Daniel J Bell ◉ on 30 May 2022

Citation, DOI & article data

Citation:

Gaillard, F., Bell, D. History and etymology (article structure). Reference article, Radiopaedia.org. (accessed on 06 Jul 2022) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-30752

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-30752

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/30752

rID:

30752

Article created:

01 Sep 2014 by Assoc Prof Frank Gaillard ◉ ◈

Revisions:

31 times by 6 users - see full revision history

Systems:

Sections:

Tag:

style

Synonyms:

Etymology (article structure)

History and etymology is one of the main subheadings in a standard article.

etymology and information about why something is named what it's named
information about an eponym and the person after whom something is named; this person's name should be capitalized and in bold, one of a very few cases when the use of bold text is encouraged on Radiopaedia.org (one of the others being the article's topic in the introduction)
general historical information, e.g. who described something first or other historical points
historical synonyms: some topics have a large number of historical synonyms which are no longer used other than in purely historical contexts; it is often best to put these in the history and etymology section (see metal fume fever as a good example). In these cases it is also helpful to include the alternative names in the Synonyms section.

True etymological discussion usually occurs when the origin of the word is from Ancient Greek or Latin roots. Where something is named after somebody i.e. an eponym, discussion will include who they are, when they lived and most likely include what they did as a profession. Referencing these details is also important; please do not cite the website "whonamedit.com" (or similar online resource) as material on these websites is often unreferenced.

It is helpful to add the tag "eponym" if the discussion is about an eponym.