Hypophysis. From outgrowth, to ocular disorder to pituitary gland.

Galen (2nd c. AD) used it to describe a progressive outgrowth, as of hair (De methodo medendi libri xiv 10.1015.6), the nails (De anatomicis administrationibus libri ix 2.337.16) of hard skin or of the tendons, the ancient physician believing that the hardness of a tissue caused its emergence (De usu partium 3.110.18, 3.111.6). Pseudo-Galen (2nd c. AD) used the term hypophysis to describe the ocular diseases of trichiasis and ectropion, the former referring to an ingrowth of the eyelashes and the latter to a turning outward of the lower eyelid. The same concept of trichiasis is also found in the works of the Byzantine physicians Aetius of Amida (6th c. AD) (Iatricorum liber vii 68.8) and Alexander Trallianus (6th c. AD) (De oculis libri tres 146.19).