About thirty years ago, a John Phillips pointed out in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine (1991, vol. 324, no. 7, p.497) that while the fingers all have Latinate names, no such distinction had been given to the toes except for the big toe or hallux. The others were simply numbered.
To remind you, the names of the digits of the hand are:
- Thumb - digitus pollicis
- Index Finger - digitus indicis
- Middle Finger - digitus medius
- Ring Finger - digitus annularis
- Little Finger - digitus minimus
To rectify this, and to preclude anatomical ambiguity in clinical situations, he proposed the toes be given the following names:
- Big Toe or Hallux - porcellus fori
- Second Toe - porcellus domi
- Third Toe - porcellus carnivorus
- Fourth Toe - porcellus non voratus
- Fifth Toe - porcellus plorans domum
Quod conservis callidus.
