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The Greek root φύσις means natural or of nature, but in present-day English it is often used as if it meant bodily or of the body:

  • a physical examination
  • physiotherapy
  • physique

Why is the root used this way? Why not use the Greek word for body in these instances?

In an informal poll of three educated adults, I asked them what they thought the roots of tele, physi, and micro mean. All properly guessed tele and micro, and all improperly guessed physi meant body or some form thereof.

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    I don't understand physical to mean bodily, but as opposed to virtual: that is, real, concrete, having a tangible existence. Putting that aside: questions of why are, generally speaking, inapplicable to language development. Languages just are: accretions of centuries and millennia of unaccountable and inaccessible accidents of history. Asking why we use physi- this way is about as sensible as asking why some branch on a tree is precisely 17.612' long, extending at an angle of precisely 78.622* from he trunk. Why? Cause that's how it grew.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 12:38
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    There's a pretty good treatment here etymonline.com/… that makes a good starting point for further research. --->
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 12:44
  • @chasly from UK: That's interesting. So it seems that ultimately, physic descends from PIE root *bheue- = "to be, exist, grow". Spelling with ph- attested from late 14c.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 12:51
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    The verb φύω, of which φύσις is a nominalization, means grow, primarily in the vegetative sense, and this strongly shapes the ancient meaning of φύσις. See Gerard Naddaf, The Greek Concept of Nature (Albany: State U of New York P, 2005).
    – Brian Donovan
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 13:06
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    @Mitch Someone once said to me "if there are lots and lots of rules, then there are no rules". A why should have a fundamental, overarching, governing reason. If the only answer to why is a long and elaborate story with lots of incidental and accidental details shaping the final result, that's not a reason, not an answer, it's a story.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 13:22

1 Answer 1

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The noun phisik and related words already refer to the knowledge of medicines and their effects on the organs of the human body when they enter Middle English via Latin and Old French, earliest English attestations in the late 14th century. English speakers today would naturally associate physi with things relating to the body and bodily health.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec/med-idx?type=byte&byte=142073546&egdisplay=open&egs=142097098

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  • Out of curiosity, do you have a date for when this morpheme was first attested to have had the sense of body/medicine/health in any language? (Ideally, Greek itself.)
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 13:57
  • When phys first came to refer primarily or exclusively to health and disease in Greek or Latin, I really don't know. One might start by looking in early Byzantine medical texts.
    – TimR
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 14:35
  • Thank you! User chasly from UK posted a link to the etymology which supports your answer.
    – dotancohen
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 15:23

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