Etymology
The English word "organ" derives from the Latin organum, meaning instrument, itself from the Greek word organon, implement, musical instrument, or organ of the body. The Greek word is related to ergon, work.
Aristotle used the word frequently in his philosophy, both to describe the organs of plants or animals (e.g. the roots of a tree, the heart or liver of an animal), and to describe more absract "parts" of an interconnected whole (e.g. his philosophical works, taken as a whole, are referred to as the "organon").
The English word "organism" is a neologism coined in the 17th century, probably formed from the verb to organize. At first the word referred to an organization or social system. The meaning of a living animal or plant is first recorded in 1842. Plant organs are made from tissue built up from different types of tissue. When there are three or more organs it is called a organ system.
Read more about this topic: Organ (anatomy)
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)