GC: n
S: WHO – http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/ (last access: 1 March 2015); http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/cancer.html (last access: 1 March 2015).
N: 1. Old English cancer “spreading sore, cancer” (also canceradl), from Latin cancer “a crab,” later, “malignant tumor,” from Greek karkinos, which, like the Modern English word, has three meanings: crab, tumor, and the zodiac constellation (late Old English), from PIE root qarq- “to be hard” (like the shell of a crab); cognates: Sanskrit karkatah “crab,” karkarah “hard;” and perhaps cognate with PIE root qar-tu- “hard, strong,” source of English hard.
Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen, among others, noted similarity of crabs to some tumors with swollen veins. Meaning “person born under the zodiac sign of Cancer” is from 1894. The sun being in Cancer at the summer solstice, the constellation had association in Latin writers with the south and with summer heat. Cancer stick “cigarette” is from 1959.
2. An abnormal growth of cells which may invade and destroy nearby tissues and organs or spread to other parts of the body.
3. Cancer includes the two broad categories of carcinoma and sarcoma, but … is often (misused as a synonym for) carcinoma.
4. Collocations:
- Adj.: breast, cervical, lung, prostate, skin, etc.
- Verb + cancer: have, suffer from | contract, get, develop | cause | screen sb for. Example: Most of the women employees have now been screened for breast cancer. | diagnose | die from/of.
- Cancer + verb: spread.
- Cancer + noun: cell | patient, sufferer, victim | risk | research | drug, treatment.
5. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention the novels A Summer to Die (1977) written by Lois Lowry and Before I Die (2007) written by Jenny Downham.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=cancer&searchmode=none (last access: 1 March 2015). 2 & 3. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 1 March 2015). 4. OD – http://oxforddictionary.so8848.com/search?word=cancer (last access. 19 May 2015). 5. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65149.A_Summer_to_Die (last access: 9 February 2016); http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1314332.Before_I_Die (last access: 9 February 2016).
SYN: malignant tumor, malignant tumour, malignant neoplasm, malignant neoplastic disease, malignancy (less frequent).
S: GDT (last access: 1 March 2015)
CR: angiogenesis, biopsy, cancerology, cancerous, carcinoma, CAT scan, cervical cancer, cyst, leukemia, lymphoma, nicotine addiction, recurrence, sarcoma, stem cell transplant, tumor.
