Etymology

lobotomy

lob·o·tomy
L1O1B3O1T1O1M3Y4

Today it means: A surgical operation involving cutting into a lobe of a body organ, specifically (neurosurgery), a procedure, now largely disused, involving severing connections between the prefrontal cortex and the thalamic region of the frontal lobe of the brain to treat certain mental illnesses. Full definition →

Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō) ← Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- ← English lobe
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*leb-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*lobós
  3. Proto-Hellenic*lobós?
  4. Ancient Greekλοβός (lobós)
  5. Latinlobus
  6. Englishlobe
  7. Proto-Indo-European*temh₁-
  8. Ancient Greekτέμνω (témnō)
  9. English todaylobotomy

From lob(e) + -otomy (a variant of -tomy (suffix denoting a surgical incision)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.