From Colin Clemett
Like Alfred Hitchcock, you seem to believe that “vertigo” means a fear of heights (20 July, p 8). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it actually means “a condition with a sensation of whirling and a tendency to lose balance, dizziness, giddiness” and it comes from the Latin vertere, meaning “to turn”.
Although it is often a by-product of the fear of heights, it can equally be experienced at ground level. The correct term for a fear of heights is “acrophobia”.
Havant, Hampshire, UK
