MadSci Network: Science History
Query:

Re: Who came up with the names/words Mitosis and Meiosis?

Date: Fri Nov 12 14:29:04 1999
Posted By: Michael Onken, Grad Student, Wash U
Area of science: Science History
ID: 942273376.Sh
Message:

First off, I've amassed this information from many sources, which I've decided not to list, since the bibliography would be much longer than the answer, and most of the citations say the same things. However, I would suggest doing a web search on any of the scientists names herein, if you want more information. For the sake of etymology, I'll list the coining of the words in order of their first usages

Meiosis has actually been in the English Language since the Renaissance, and is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as: "A figure of speech by which the impression is intentionally conveyed that a thing is less in size, importance, etc., than it really is." Meiosis is a rhetorical term for understatement, like referring to something one considers excellent as "OK" (not to be confused with saying it's "not bad", which is litotes). Not quite the definition you expected; read on.

Mitosis was coined by Walther Flemming in a paper in 1882 describing the processes of Cell Division, titled "Zell-substanz, Kern und Zelltheilung". Flemming was also responsible for the word "chromosome" although when he first described them in 1879, he simply refered to them as stained strands. Flemming worked on cell division with Eduard Strasburger, who named the mitotic stages "prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase" in 1884.

Maiosis was coined by J. B. Farmer and J. E. Moore in 1905: "We propose to apply the terms Maiosis or Maiotic phase to cover the whole series of nuclear changes included in the two divisions that were designated as Heterotype and Homotype by Flemming" (Farmer, J.B., & Moore, J.E. in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XLVIII: 489). Within a couple of years, the spelling of the word was changed to Meiosis to better reflect its Greek meaning of "a reduction" (as in a reduction in chromosome number), which is also what the rhetoricians were using it to mean (a reduction in importance). So while the word "mitosis" was actually coined, the word "meiosis" was simply borrowed from another usage.


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