Greek vocabulary, especially when it comes to parts of the body, plays a larger role in medical terminology, such as anatomy, than their semantic counterparts in the Latin language. So, although the Latin root cor, cordis is a prolific provider of vocabulary for the English language, it does not contribute much to the medical field, but rather its related rival, the Greek root kardia, does:
Kardia—heart {card, cardio-}
We can note as we head on into these medical terms that the Greek letter kappa (k) becomes a hard "c" in English. CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, has to do with reviving an unconscious and unbreathing/unheartbeating (yes, a thorough misuse of the English language, but boy was it fun!) patient via techiques for getting the lungs (pulmonary derives from the Latin pulmo, pulmonis—lung: yes, we have already found an exception to the rule stated above; the Greek word for lung is pneumon—lung {pneumo-}, also a highly prolific source of medical terminology...such as pneumonoconiosis, pneumonia, and pneumogastric...not to mention the longest word in most English dictionaries, that is, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a disease that coal miners contract by breathing in fine silica dust). The Greek word for lung here is a more prolific source of medical terminology than the Latin root for lung; and also remember that the only exception to the rule that states that there is no exception to any rule is the rule itself (just in the same way that a Universal Solvent cannot exist because it would, well, dissolve itself, not to mention the Universe within which it exists). And note that the word "resuscitation," a tough word to spell if you do not know the Latin roots behind it, comes from the Latin root word cito, citare, citavi, citatum—to set in motion, rouse, excite, hence, to resuscitate is to ‘set (one) in motion again.’ Wow...an entire entry for a simple three-letter pseudo-acronym: CPR.
The word cardiovascular refers to the heart and its system of blood vessels, including the arteries, veins, and capillaries (the word vascular comes from the Latin vasculum—small vessel {vessel}). A cardiologist is one who studies the heart, that is, a heart doctor, one who is intimately familiar with the myocardial infarction, or cardiac arrest, or heart attack, in which the cardiac muscle, or muscle of the heart, stops. A cardiologist is intimately familiar, in turn, with the study of cardiology, which concerns the pathology (diseases inherent to), structure, and function of the said cardiac muscle. Many, many terms come from the study of cardiology, such as the pericardium, that fluid-filled sac that envelops the heart and its vasculature, the epicardium, that part of the pericardium that sits on top of the actual heart muscle (via the Greek prefix epi-upon, over), tachycardia, a disease of the heart in which it is pulsing too swiftly, bradycardia, the opposite malady of tachycardia, and myocarditis, the inflammation of the heart muscle. This is a small sampling of the cardiological terminology of or relating to the heart, probably the most important muscle of the body, to which an entire association has been dedicated, the American Heart Association.
Access www.wordempire.com to more fully delve into the Greek and Latin roots of the English language.
Brett Brunner has been teaching Latin and English vocabulary in college-prep schools for seventeen years, as well as summer courses targeting the verbal section of the SAT. He spent eleven years at Saint Mary’s Hall in San Antonio, TX, where he presided as the chair of the Language Department, overseeing the Spanish, Japanese, French, and Latin programs; in addition, he taught Latin, etymology, philosophy, and world history. He designed a course in Greek and Latin roots to build vocabulary in the mid 90s, from which he had the idea of creating his own comprehensive Greek and Latin roots textbook, Word Empire, which is now used by numerous schools and individuals, and includes distribution through the American Classical League. He spent the academic year of 2000-2001 on sabbatical, finishing Word Empire, and recently completed Word Empire III: Clarity; he also wrote a book on teaching methodology, entitled Chaos Motivation, which describes his unique, infrastructural motivational methodology--he finished the second edition of Chaos Motivation in the fall of 2006. He holds an undergraduate honors degree from UW Madison, and an M.A. in English from the University of Virginia; he has continued his studies in Latin at the University of Georgia at Athens. He was awarded the prestigious Master Teacher's award at Saint Mary's Hall in the fall of 2003 for his success in motivating students at the middle and upper-school levels. In June of 2005, Mr. Brunner was named Teen Ink’s Educator of the Year. Mr. Brunner regularly presents his learning English vocabulary methodology at conferences, the most recent being at Vanderbilt University for the American Classical League. He currently teaches Latin at Tandem Friends School in Charlottesville, VA, where he writes a Latin roots SAT word of the day column on the school's web site, and also frequently contributes to his Greek and Latin roots blog.