Fun Fact September 2, 2021.

Today I’m giving you the fingers, yep all of them!  Did you ever wonder how our fingers got their names?  Here’s how, at least according to Mental Floss dot com.  The term “thumb” was first used before the 12th century and is believed to have come from a European term, tum, meaning “to swell,” which makes the thumb “the swollen one.”  Medically the thumb is the pollex. Next in line after the pollex is the index or pointer, digitus secundus manus.  Index comes from the Latin indicō, which means “to point out,” which is also where the term “pointer” comes into play. The second finger, third digit, has the most literal meaning of all. Less commonly referred to as the long or tall finger, the digitus medius manus sits in the center of the hand, right between the digitus secondus manus and the ring finger. How the middle finger became an offensive gesture is perhaps a future fun fact.  Known medically as the digitus medicinalis, digitus quartus manus, or digitus annularis manus, the origin of the term “ring finger” dates back to the 2nd century Egypt.  Egyptians believed that there was a vein in the fourth finger, known as the lover’s vein, that was connected to the heart.  To signify that a man had a hold of a woman’s heart, he would put a ring on the fourth finger.  Last and least, The fifth digit is the digitus minimus manus. According to World Wide Words, pinkie was used by Scots to refer to something small, which fits our fifth digit.

Fun Fact September 2, 2021.
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