[Etymology of evil : Origin and early development of oncoterminology]

The medical theory of ancient Greece and Rome was substantially shaped by the concept of body fluids. However, the pathology of solid lesions also occupies a firm place in the terminology. Hippocrates and Galen were acquainted with a number of tumours and tumour-like lesions of parenchymal organs. Both primary tumours (phymata, onkoi) as well as secondaries (metastaseis) have been described. On the other hand, the terms neoplasia and neoplasm were not part of the vocabulary of Greek medicine. Organ-related tumours were referred to as cancers. In contrast to carcinoma, sarcoma is terminologically seldom represented in ancient medical literature. The differentiation between benignity and malignancy was transferred from philosophy to medicine. What was characteristic of malignancy was above all the high relapse rate. The ancient vocabulary for evil is widely used in modern oncoterminology.