![]() ![]() The modern sense of "an X about X" has given rise to concepts like " meta-cognition" (i.e. Also, metamemory in psychology means an individual's knowledge about whether or not they would remember something if they concentrated on recalling it. In a database, metadata are also data about data stored in a data dictionary and describe information (data) about database tables such as the table name, table owner, details about columns, – essentially describing the table. For example, metadata are data about data (who has produced them, when, what format the data are in and so on). In epistemology, and often in common use, the prefix meta- is used to mean about (its own category). For example: the term Metatheria (the name for the clade of marsupial mammals) uses the prefix meta- in the sense the Metatheria occur on the tree of life adjacent to the Theria (the placental mammals). The use of the prefix in this sense occurs occasionally in scientific English terms derived from Greek. I trust that this cures Mr Gleave's metagrobolism.In Greek, the prefix meta- is generally less esoteric than in English Greek meta- is equivalent to the Latin words post- or ad. As he wrote, “The term is a bit grand, but it is precise and apt.” Incidentally, meta-analysis should not be confused with metanalysis, which is the process whereby, for example, “a nadder” becomes “an adder” (see BMJ 1999 318:17 321:953). In this statistical sense it was first used in the 1970s by GV Glass ( Educ Res 1976 3(Nov):2). So meta-analysis is an analysis of analyses, in which sets of previously published (or unpublished) data are themselves subjected as a whole to further analysis. Mantissa, a medical novel by John Fowles, is metafiction Francois Truffaut's film La Nuit Amercaine is metacinema several paintings by Magritte, notably La Condition Humaine, are meta-art and John Cage's piano piece 4'33” is metamusic. In these poststructuralist times we recognise many metaforms. And Jean Tinguely described his machine-like sculptures as “metamechanical.” (But a metaphysician is not a doctor's doctor.) A metalanguage is a language that supplies terms for analysing a language a metametalanguage does the same for a metalanguage. ![]() ![]() A metatheorem is a theorem about theorems. A metacriterion is a criterion that defines criteria. Then, from about 1940, it became commonplace to prefix meta- to designate concern with basic principles. Examples include metaethics (the study of the foundations of ethics, especially the nature of ethical statements) and metahistory (an inquiry into the principles that govern historical events). This use first appeared in the early 17th century (John Donne, for example, writes about metatheology) but did not become really popular until the middle of the 19th century. However, because The Metaphysics dealt with what Aristotle called “primary philosophy,” or ontology, metaphysics came to be misunderstood as “the science of that which transcends the physical.”Īs a result, the prefix meta- was then used to designate any higher science (actual or hypothetical) that dealt with more fundamental problems than the original science itself. Then he published a set of papers that he called The Metaphysics (τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυςικά), simply because it came after The Physics. Andronicus called one set of papers The Physics (τὰ φυςικά), dealing as they did with natural science. Some 250 years after his death, Aristotle's manuscripts came into the hands of Andronicus of Rhodes, who edited them. And chemists use meta- to differentiate certain metameric chemical compounds (such as metacresol, paracresol, orthocresol).Īnd so to Aristotle. In geology meta- is used to distinguish various types of metamorphic processes. In scientific English words its uses include “consequent upon” (as in the obsolete terms meta-arthritic, metapneumonic), “behind” or “beyond” in an anatomical sense (metabranchial, metacarpal, metaphysis), “coming later” (metaphase, which comes after prophase), or “changing” (metachromasia, a property of materials that stain a different colour from the stain used). Examples of the last include metabolism, metamorphosis, and metaplasia. It was also used as a prefix to express such notions as sharing, being in the midst of, succession, pursuit, reversal, and (most commonly) change. ![]() With the accusative it could mean coming into or among, in pursuit of, or coming after in place or time with the genitive it could mean in the midst of, between, or in common with and with the dative it could mean in the company of or over and above. The Greek preposition μετά (meta) had several meanings, depending on whether it governed the accusative, genitive, or dative case. Mr John Gleave, a neurosurgeon, has written to ask me the origin of the meta- in meta-analysis. ![]()
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