THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY

pro bono humani generis
1230 YORK AVENUE - NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10021-6399

Joshua Lederberg
UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR

July 7, 1999
Dear Dr. Bazopoulou-Kyrkanidou

I am writing to ask your help in tracing the etymology of "Genome”. What might the "-ome"
ending signify in Greek? Forget about "-some" (soma) which I believe is a diversion. Of
course now words like phenome, proteome, physiome are being coined in imitation of
"genome", without much regard to Greek origins.

Can you assist?

ours sincere]

jer

Joshua Lederberg
Professor-emeritus

email: lederberg @mail.rockefeller.edu

BGtiivews ae - ~~ = eee ee eke ee eee ene e eee oe

chromosomes.

but also -- for -ome. OFD:

-ome, anglicized form of -oma (partly through influence of G. -om, F. -ome),
occurring chiefly in Bot. in terms such as caulome, hadrome, phyllome, rhizome,
and usu. signifying a structure or group of cells forming a normal part

of the anatomy, in contrast with the abnormality implied by -oma (cf. mycetome,
an organ in insects, mycetoma, a fungal skin disease). It also occurs

in a few obs. forms of words now written -oma, e.g. fibrome, tuberculome.

 

 

As these botanical terms were well established in the last century,
cf also "biome", I suspect this connotation of ome was also
current for Winkler (a botanist!) and his contemporaries, even
accepting the chance that a "rhyme" with "chromosome" may have
been a factor?

How do we investigate this? I am asking some Greek friends to dig