hippocampus
/ˌhɪpə(ʊ)ˈkæm.pəs/
hippocampus means A mythological creature with the front head and forelimbs of a horse and the rear of a fish.
hippocampus is pronounced /ˌhɪpə(ʊ)ˈkæm.pəs/.
Why “hippocampus” is a great word
A mythological creature combining the foreparts of a horse with the tail of a fish, and, in anatomy, the seahorse-shaped structure of the medial temporal lobe essential for memory formation and spatial navigation. From Late Latin hippocampus, from Ancient Greek ἱππόκαμπος (hippókampos), combining ῐ̔́ππος (híppos, 'horse') and κάμπος (kámpos, 'sea-monster'); the anatomical sense was adopted for its resemblance to the seahorse. Unlike the amygdala—a neighboring cerebral node of raw emotion and fear—or the kelpie—a shapeshifting water spirit that lures travelers to their doom—the hippocampus is neither a beast of terror nor a trickster, but the quiet cartographer of experience. It is the pearl-grey seahorse curled in the brain's brine, the curve of a question mark pressed into neural tissue, the patient librarian of the self who shelves each morning's walk alongside the smell of yeast and the angle of autumn light—the brain's own sea-horse, swimming through the deep currents of remembering, forever leaping from the depths and just as forever receding.
Etymology
From Late Latin hippocampus, from Ancient Greek ἱππόκαμπος (hippókampos, from ῐ̔́ππος (hĭ́ppos, “horse”) + κάμπος (kámpos, “sea-monster”)). The anatomy sense is so named from its resemblance to the seahorse. By surface analysis, hippo- + campus.
noun
- A mythological creature with the front head and forelimbs of a horse and the rear of a fish.
- A part of the brain located inside the temporal lobe, consisting mainly of grey matter. It is a component of the limbic system and plays a role in memory and emotion.“Holonyms: limbic system < brain < central nervous system, CNS”
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