soteriology n.

*teuə-, also *teu-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to swell."

It forms all or part of: butter; contumely; creosote; intumescence; intumescent; protuberance; protuberant; psychosomatic; somato-; -some (3) "body, the body;" soteriology; Tartuffe; thigh; thimble; thousand; thole (n.); thumb; tumescent; tumid; tumor; truffle; tuber; tuberculosis; tumult; tyrosine.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Avestan tuma "fat;" Greek tylos "callus, lump;" Latin tumere "to swell," tumidus "swollen," tumor "a swelling;" Lithuanian tukti "to become fat;" Lithuanian taukas, Old Church Slavonic tuku, Russian tuku "fat of animals;" Old Irish ton "rump."

word-forming element indicating "branch of knowledge, science," now the usual form of -logy. Originally used c. 1800 in nonce formations (commonsensology, etc.), it gained legitimacy by influence of the proper formation in geology, mythology, etc., where the -o- is a stem vowel in the previous element.

The second element is prop[erly] -logy (-logue, etc.), the -o- belonging to the preceding element; but the accent makes the apparent element in E[nglish] to be -ology, which is hence often used as an independent word. [Century Dictionary] 

"pertaining to the doctrine of spiritual salvation through Jesus Christ," 1879, from German soteriologisch; see soteriology.