What is the derivation of the word rheuma ?
Rheuma is derived from the Greek term indicating “a substance which flows,” a humor that originates in the brain and causes various ailments. Guillaume Baillou claimed that “what arthritis is in a joint is what rheumatism is in the whole body,” raising the idea that arthritis is but one manifestation of systemic processes. In 1940, Bernard Comroe coined the term rheumatologist , and in 1949, Hollander used the term rheumatology in his textbook Arthritis and Allied Conditions .
