Is the Thumb a Finger?

By jamie

Article Sources

Medical Expert

More About Us

3. What Does the Word Mean?

English words are not usually selected at random. The English language was actually constructed from a mixture of other languages, particularly European languages including Germanic, Greek, and Latin. When looking into the entomology of the word, you will often find that English words have been taken from others.

For example, the Latin word “tumere” translates roughly as “the swollen one,” which makes sense considering the thumb’s size and shape relative to our fingers. Similar words are still used in other European languages such as daumen in German, and duim in Dutch. The words all have the same or similar origins but have evolved in different ways over time.

Related Articles