There should be—and probably is—a name for the phenomenon whereby for a long, long time you do not notice a connection between two words, a connection that is obvious once you see it.
Not until yesterday did I realize that the word "health" is related to the word "heal." Why did it take so long to see the connection?
Two possible reasons come to mind:
(1) The more complex word is learned first. If you learn "professor" when you are four years old and "profess" when you are eight years old, you will be less likely to see the connection than to see the connection between "collect" and "collector," which you learn at approximately the same time.
(2) The pronunciation of "health" with a short-e and "heal" with a long-e disguises the connection. The connection would be more obvious if "health" were pronounced "heelth."
In looking up the etymology, [I see that] both words are derived from the Old English "hal," which is related to "hale (and hearty)" and "whole"—and related to the German "heilen," as in "Sieg Heil!"
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 