it sounds a little harsh..cancer

misslideaway | 02:17 Mon 28th Mar 2005 | Body & Soul

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why is cancer called cancer and is there any relation to the astrological sign?

Breast reduction twice?

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lodekka

Found on http://www.etymonline.com/ and tidied up for ease of reading.

Old English, from Latin, "a crab," later "malignant tumour."

Greek physician Galen, among others, noted similarity of crabs to some tumors with swollen veins.

From Greek karkinos, which, like the Modern English word, has three meanings: crab, tumour, and the zodiac constellation (1391), from Proto-Indo-European base *qarq- "to be hard" (like the shell of a crab); cf. Sanskrit. karkatah "crab," karkarah "hard;" and probably cognate with PIE base *qar-tu- "hard, strong," source of English 'hard'.

Meaning "person born under the zodiac sign of Cancer" is from 1894. Cancer stick "cigarette" is from 1959.

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