Chirurgia (Latin)

Chirurgia (Latin)
 

A question about Spanish etymology. The Latin word chirurgia means surgery, and is derived from the Greek χείρ (hand) ἔργον (work).

From that root, we get (English) surgery and (Spanish) cirujano and quirófano.

Can anybody explain the difference in spelling of the two Spanish words?

Thanks

According to rae.es, cirugía and cirujano developed from the Latin word chirurgia. However, it also says that quirófano is constructed directly from two Greek roots, χειρο- ( = mano) and φαίνειν (= mostrar).

Ah ha! I couldn't find it in rae.es :thinking: That would explain the consonant shifts. Thanks :thumbsup:

To be honest, it did take a little bit of sleuthing: the rae.es entry for quirófano gives the derivation as quiro- + φαίνειν, and the entry for quiro- gives χειρο-. (Oh why to dictionary compilers make us work so hard? :D)

Moliner also gives,
quiro- (var. «quir-») Elemento prefijo del gr. «cheir», mano, empleado en palabras cultas: quirófano, quirógrafo, quiromancia, quiróptero, quiroteca, quirúrgico.

Thanks. It never occurred to me to search only the prefix. Duh :eek: