Somas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Anatomical structures that are often referred to as bodies
2. Components of an organism that can also denote biological tissues or cells
3. Referring to the physical substance of living organisms, encompassing skin, flesh, and underlying systems

Etymology: "Somas" is simply the plural of "soma," so the word itself is the one to trace. "Soma" comes from Ancient Greek "sôma," meaning "body," and reached modern English through New Latin, the Latin used by scientists and scholars from the early modern period onward. Its use for the living body as a whole is a learned borrowing, not something that passed down through everyday speech. The most surprising twist is that the same spelling also names a sacred plant and drink in ancient India. That is a separate word: the Sanskrit "soma," used of a ritual intoxicant in the Vedic texts, and the two only share a form by coincidence of transliteration. The Greek "sôma" and the Sanskrit "soma" are not related in origin, which is why a biologist's term and a religious drink look identical on the page.

Synonyms: cell bodies