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Muscle names

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January 18, 2007, 11:27
<Asa Lovejoy>
Muscle names
I'm at home suffering from a spastic rhomboid muscle (no relation to to the famous early 20th century composer of operettas, Sigmoid Rhomboid), and it suddenly seemed odd to me that few muscles are named for their shape instead of their location or function. Others that come to mind include the deltoid and the trapezoid. Are there others? Why? If we had a mint-attracting muscle, would it be the Altoid?

Spastic Asa, just killing time being silly
January 18, 2007, 13:54
neveu
The gastrocnemius muscle (one of the two muscles that forms the calf of the leg) comes from the Greek word gastroknemia meaning the belly of the leg. The other muscle of the calf, the soleus muscle, comes from solefish, whose shape it resembles (according to Wikipedia).
January 18, 2007, 20:10
Kalleh
Great question, Asa. I found this site that describes how muscles are named: "Muscles can be named according to the direction their fibers run, their size, where they are found in the body, what bones they attach to, what the muscle looks like, where it is in relation to certain bones, and their function within the body. Often the name of a muscle contains combinations of each of the above."