'anomia' originates from New Latin (medical), specifically the word 'anomia', where 'an-' meant 'without' and 'onoma' meant 'name'.

'anomia' changed from Greek 'anōmia' (ἀνομία) and entered English via New Latin/medical Latin as 'anomia', eventually becoming the modern English term 'anomia'.

Initially it meant 'lack of a name' (from 'without' + 'name'); in Greek a similar form could also mean 'lawlessness' (from a different root 'nomos' meaning 'law'), but in medical usage it specialized to mean 'inability to name' or 'word-finding difficulty'.