Lecture 2 Etymological Study of Medical Terms Etymology

Lecture 2 Etymological Study of Medical Terms

Etymology Definition v The origin and historical development of a linguistic form as shown by determining its basic elements, earliest known use, and changes in form and meaning, tracing its transmission from one language to another, identifying its cognates in other languages, and reconstructing its ancestral form where possible.

Medical Terminology - Applied Definition v The words or terms that make up the language of medicine are referred to as the terminology of the medical field. v Like every other language, medical terminology has changed over time, but the majority of terms are based on Latin or Greek words.

The Sources of Medical Terminology v Native terms v Borrowed v Coinage terms

Sources of Medical Terms v Native: those that derive from Old English

Old English (450 AD-1100 AD) Time: the fifth and sixth centuries AD, Event: invasion of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from northern Germany, Denmark and northern Holland into the British Isles and began populating those areas Result: The invaders, known as the Anglo-Saxons, pushed the original, Celtic-speaking inhabitants out of what is now England into Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland, leaving behind a few Celtic words. The language they spoke, Anglo-Saxon, was mutually intelligible and at some point developed into what we know as Old English.

Words evolved from old English Most medical words from old English denote : v Anatomic structures v Organs v Substances v Basic concepts of human activities

Words evolved from old English Without Semantical Changes v v v v v ankle back bladder blood chest ear eye foot gum hair hand v knee v lip v liver v lung v neck v organ v throat v tongue v

Words evolved from old English Without Semantical Changes Some words denoting basic physical functions: v breath v swallow v thirst v yawn v sleep v health Some words denoting basic symptoms: v ache v choke v deaf v fever v lame v mad v swell v wound

Anatomic words Words evolved from old English With Semantical Changes chest v chest – In O. E. , cest v meaning “box, coffer”. v a medicine chest (药箱) v The meaning was extended to “thorax” in 1530 and replaced breast, on the metaphor that the ribs are a box for the organs.

Anatomic words Words evolved from old English With Semantical Changes organ v It was organe in O. E. , and orgene in O. Fr. (Old French), both meaning “musical instrument”. v Sense was narrowed in late M. E. to modern musical instrument known by that name (风 琴).

Anatomic words Words evolved from old English With Semantical Changes organ v Great Organ Works v The meaning “functioning body part” appeared in English in 1392.

Words evolved from old English v Other Examples: whooping-cough pertussis pink eye epidemic conjunctivitis athlete’s foot tinea pedis

Submedical Words Word General Meaning arrest base carrier complaint complication control digest failure shock Medical meaning Examples

Sources of Medical Terms v v v Borrowed words, or loan-words: taken from other languages largely based upon Greek, Latin and French vocabulary German, Italian, Spanish and others have contributed some words to medical terminology.

Words originated from Greek Great influence of long standing and well established ancient Greek civilization on western culture ·Asklepios (Greek spelling) /Aesculapius (Latin spelling) 埃斯科拉庇俄斯：the god of medicine and healing He had a stick with the snake curled around it. v

Words originated from Greek (WHO) World Health Organization

Words originated from Greek 中国医师协会标志

Words originated from Greek ·Hippocrates: the father of western medicine a Greek physician born in 460 BC on the island of Cos, Greece. He became known as the founder of medicine and was regarded as the greatest physician of his time. He based his medical practice on observations and on the study of the human body.

Words originated from Greek acne Ø It was borrowed from Gk. akme in 1570, meaning “(highest) point”. It contains the base “ak-”, denoting “sharp”. Ø “青春痘” “痤疮” “粉刺”

Words originated from Greek Other Examples: (1) aden, anorexia, colon, coma, derma, dyspeptic, glaucoma, glottis, larynx, metastasis, necrosis, nephron, paralysis, phalanx, pharynx, pneumonia, psychology, rachis, soma, stenosis, stoma, thorax, — simple, fixed and precise

Achilles

Iris

Words originated from Latin v v v The earliest influence of Latin language on English may date back to Roman Empire. With the expansion, the Romans brought their language to other parts of the entire Empire. Greater influence was exerted after Norman Conquest. As Norman invaders spoke a language that derives from Ancient Latin, borrowing from Latin was inevitable.

Words originated from Latin bacteria ü The plural form of Modern Latin of bacterium, it comes into English in 1847. The original Latin word is from Greek bakterion (small staff), the diminutive（ 指 小词） of baktron (stick, rod). It is so called because the first ones observed were rodshaped.

Words originated from Latin cell ü It is made from Latin cella (small room, hut), related to Latin celare (to hide, conceal). The earliest sense was for monastic rooms, then prison rooms. It began to be used in biology in the 17 th century but not in modern sense until 1845.

Words originated from Latin v. Other Examples: abscess, abdomen, acute, apnea, autopsy, bacterium, cancer, clinic, cerebrum, cornea, cortex, dystrophy, hydrophobia, inflame, medicine, muscle, nausea, obstetrics, panacea, pelvis, placebo, plexus, prognosis, rabies, tumor, vertebra

Words originated from Latin v The changes of the endings: (1) inflammation, inspection (-tio→ -tion) (2) catarrh, fluid (-us) (3) ligament, pigment, medicament (-mentum → -ment) (4) immunity, heredity, obesity (-itas → -ity) (5) medicine (medicina), intestine (intestinum)

Some interesting Examples: Julius Caesar → Caesarean Section

Some interesting Examples: Venus → venereal Hygeia → hygiene Panacea → panacea Aesculapius and Hygeia

Words originated from French v v After the Norman Conquest, the conquerors ruled the country for a long period of time and left a deep influence on the English language. As French language itself is a modified form of Latin, many of these borrowed words ultimately come from Greek, since many words form this language had passed into Latin.

Words originated from French v hospital Borrowed in 1242 from Old French hospital (hostel), it originally referred to “shelter for the needy”. Its sense of “institution for sick people” was first recorded 1549. Hospitalize was recorded from 1901.

Words originated from French v Disease It was evolved in about 1330 from Old French desaise, made of des– (without, away) and aise (ease). Sense of “sickness, illness” was first recorded in 1393.

Words originated from French v Other examples: ambulance, anatomy, antibiotics, artery, benign, bruit, chronic, doctor, embolism, jaundice, lavage, lymph, malaise, massage, mortuary, palpitation, pathology, prostate, rehabilitation, surgeon,

Words originated from German v v v Starting from 19 th century, German made great progress in science and technology. Such advances necessitate new vocabulary to denote new findings, discoveries, concepts and substances. Some medical terms were first coined in German and then introduced into English.

Words originated from German v aspirin It was coined in 1899 in German as a trademark name either from Greek a– (without) and Latin spiraea (ulmaria), the plant in whose flowers or leaves the processed acid in the medicine is found naturally. Hence aspirin means “acetylo–salicylic acid which is gained not from the Spiraea ulmaria(绣 线菊类的植物)(but in a chemical way)”.

Words originated from German v Other examples: barbiturate, chemotherapy, chromosome, genome, leukemia, neuron, psychoanalysis, schizophrenia, testosterone

Words originated from Italian, Spanish and Chinese v From Italian : influenza, malaria, quarantine v From Spanish: mosquito, quinine v From Chinese: yin, yang, jing, qi, tui na (from Pinyin) acupoint, acupressure, moxibustion (coinage)

Words originated from Direct Coinage Development in medical science necessitates more words to describe new findings, explains innovative processes and denotes new concepts. English has been enriched with a large vocabulary of coinage, embodying creativity and talents of all human thinking.

Words from Direct Coinage v acupuncture It was coined in 1684 from Latin acus (needle) and English puncture, first used as noun meaning “pricking with a needle”. The verb was first recorded 1972.

Words from Direct Coinage v antacid It was coined in 1732 from anti(against) and acid.

Causes of Coinage 1. Intersection and differentiation of medical science: cytopathology nanomedicine microbial engineering immunotoxicology

Causes of Coinage 2. New findings in the medical field: (1) penicillin, chemotherapy, streptomycin, electrocardiogram (ECG), reproductive cloning, transsexual operation, artificial heart (2) AIDS, SARS, avian flu (bird flu), Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, karoshi (death from overwork), subhealth, ICU syndrome, affluenza (civil disease), pasteurization

Causes of Coinage (3) Escherichia coli, rickettsia, Shigella, Salmonella (4)fallopian tube, Eustachian tube, Bowman’s gland (5)Mediterranean anemia, tularemia (rabbit fever), Keshan disease

Causes of Coinage 3. Raised awareness of health care: Medicare, Medicaid, aerobic exercise, organic food, skimmed milk, vegetarian, internet addiction, over-the-counter (OTC) drug, balanced diet, health-care food 4. Renewal of medical ethical views: bioethics, hospice care, QOL (quality of life), euthanasia (mercy killing) , dignified death, brain death, vegetative state, informed consent