Basic medical terminology
Winter period 2014                                Teacher: J. Artimová


Objectives of the course
•To familiarize with basic medical terminology
•To understand rules of creating Latin terms and to understand meaning of particular terms based
on:
–Morphological analysis
–Syntactical analysis
•To create correct Latin terms (both from anatomical and clinical terminology)
•To understand basics of pharmacological Latin
•To master the vocabulary in a systematic way

Translate/Explain
•Cryocautery
•Hydrocephaly
•Sideropenia
•Tocograph
•Styloid (process)
•Xiphocostal (articulatio)
•
•

Latin in the anatomical terminology
•Definite set of terms that name the parts and structures of the human body
•First worldwide official standard terminology appeared 1895 (Basiliensia Nomina Anatomica)
•Current terminology is approved by FCAT and published in 1998 as TERMINOLOGIA ANATOMICA (cf.
http://www.unifr.ch)

BNA.jpg BNA porovnanie.png



TELO SVALY.png
Musculi obliqui abdominis
Musculus rectus abdominis
Musculi adductores
m. adductor longus
m. adductor brevis
Musculus deltoideus
Musculus pectoralis major
Musculus biceps brachii
Musculus flexor carpi
Musculus quadriceps femoris
Case and number endings
Prefixes
Roots of the compound words
Suffixes
Special forms

Latin in the clinical terminology
•Non-definite set of terms that names diseases, health conditions or causes of death
•First authoritative list of diseases and causes of death 1868 (Nomenclature of diseases), 1893
Bertillon's classification of diseases
•Current terminology ICD-10 is approved by WHO and published every ± 10 years
(www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/)
•Widely used in medical documentation e.g. medical reports, surgical and hospital reports,
pathological reports (central Europe, Russia and former republics of USSR, partly Western Europe -
Germany, Austria)

09_Dg_padak.pdf
ICD Fracture of upper end of humerus : S 42. 2 (http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10)


VulnusScissum-01.jpg



Transcription of the medical report
•Dg.:
•S610 Vulnus scissum digiti II manus l. sin
•W268 Kontakt s nožem, mečem nebo dýkou
•Před 8 hod. si seřízl dorsolater. stranu II prstu L. ruky
•Th.:
•V LA mesokainem revisio et revitalisatio marginum, sutura, krytí a obvaz

Latin in the pharmacologic terminology
•Definite set of terms used in European Pharmacopoea (current version is 8th ed.) to name:
–essential medicines (acidum phosphoricum)
–classes of medicines (antipyretica, spasmolytica)
–forms of medicines (solutio, injectio, tabuletta)
–drugs (calendula officinalis)
•Prescriptions
–main part of the prescription including name and quantity of the medicine as well as the way of
its administration is usually written in Latin, using system of routine abbreviations




Historical background
•Much of the medical terminology used today is attributed to Hippocrates and Greek authors
•Terminology arises from need to identify the anatomical structures, diagnoses, instruments,
procedures, protocols and medications
•Many ancient terms are based on metaphors and similes, i.e. they are formed from words of
nonmedical origin:
•
„The father of medicine“
Hippocrates 460-370 BC
Animals Letters of alphabet,
Musical instruments Household utensils,
Military objects Agricultural tools/products....

gladius.png Cochlear.png konik.png furca.png



Word parts, combinig forms and rules of word-building
•card-i-a
•card-i-acus
•card-i-alis
•peri-card-ium
•endo-card-ium
•myo-card-ium
•card-itis
•peri-card-itis
•card-i-o-logia
•card-i-o-graphia
•card-i-o-my-o-pathia
•
•
•
•
•
•
puzzle.png
prefix

ALPHABET
AND PRONUNCIATION
•BASIC MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY

Vowels
A
Ā
B
C
D
E
Ē
F
G
H
I
Ī
K
L
M
N
O
Ō
P
Q
R
S
T
U
Ū
V
X
Y
Y
Z
Vowels
Long         Short
Ā (father) frāctūra    A (cut) lingua
Ē (term) artēria         E (met) vertebra
Ī (intrigue) spīna       I   (intrigue) digitus
I  (iatros) >  J
Ō (door) sensōrius       O (on) skeleton
Ū (boom) ruptūra       U (put) uterus
Y (analysis) hypophysis   Y (lady) tympanum
•
•
Diphtongs
AE (care) anaemia
OE (care) lagoena
OE (o-e)
EU (e-u)

Read aloud and guess the meaning:
•hypnosis
•ala
•olla
•eupnoe
•ileus
•mucus
•haematoma
•iliacus
•
•
•
•
•
•ossa
•diploe
•cubitus
•venae
•diameter
•sacralis
•ulcus
•iris
•
•
•sutura
•sigmoideus
•depressor
•area
•oesophagus
•melior
•meatus
•leucocytus
•
•
•
•

Consonants I.
A
Ā
B
C
D
E
Ē
F
G
H
I
Ī
K
L
M
N
O
Ō
P
Q
R
S
T
U
Ū
V
X
Y
Ŷ
Z
Consonant/group of consonants
Pronunciation
Example
1: c
     c + ae, oe, e, i, y
[k] medical
[ts] tsar
camera, costa, cultivatio, cranium
caecus, coeliacia, centrum, circulatio, cynismus
2: ch
 [x] loch
chirurgia, cholera

Consonants II.
4: h
 [h] house
herba, haematologia
5: j + vowel
 [y] yes
iniectio/injectio, maior/major
6: p
     p + h
 [p] present
 [f]  physiology
pneumonia, pulmo
phantasia, pharmacia
7: qu+ vowel
 [kv]
aqua, quadriceps
8: r
     r+h
 [r] rupture
 [r]
vertebra, ruptura
rheuma, rhinitis
Consonant/group of consonants
Pronunciation
Example
3: g
     gu + vowel
[g] ground
[gv]
gramma, gastritis
lingua, sanguis

Consonants III.
Consonant/group of consonants
Pronunciation
Example
9: s/ss
     s between two vowels and following after l, r, n
[s] some
[z]
serum, fossa
nasus, incisura, pulsus, tonsilla, inversus, suspensio
10: t
     ti + vowel
     s/t/x + ti + vowel
     t+h
[t] tongue
[tsi]
[ty]
[t]
trauma, tactus
operatio, substantia
tibia, ostium, mixtio
therapia, thermometrum
11: z
[z] zone
zoologia

Read aloud and guess the meaning:



GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
BASIC LINGUISTIC TERMINOLOGY
•BASIC MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY

What will you find in the dictionary?
English noun is presented only in its single form
(nominative singular)
Latin noun is presented in three forms
Muscle =        MUSCULUS,    I,          M.
Bone =             OS,                  OSSIS,  N.
Main form
(full nominative)
Genitive ending/or even full Genitive form
Gender abbreviation
CAUTION! When learning new words ALL THREE FORMS are EQUALLY important
                      for the future ability to use the noun in the context.

Genitive ending = Declension
DECLENSION
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
GENITIVE ENDING
-ae (-es)
-i
-(?)-is
-us
-ei
EXAMPLE
coxa, ae, f.
humerus, i, m.
cranium, ii, n.
coccyx, gis, f.
dens, dentis, m.
femur, oris, n.
pelvis, is, f.
arcus, us, m.
genu, us, n.
facies, ei, f.
Declensions are groups of nouns (or adjective) that use the same set of suffixes (=endings).

Latin and Greek declensions
ENDINGS PHOTO.png


Read and write down the number of declension
3
3
3
2
5
3
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
3
1
2
2
3
3
4
3
2
2
3
1
2
3
3
3
2
2
4
3
2
2
3
3

Genitive ending = stem of a word
•A stem is a form to which affixes (endings) can be attached
•In some declensions (1st, 4th, 5th, and in majority of cases also 2nd) the nominative and genitive
forms of the word have identical stem
•In some declensions (3rd, partially 2nd) word’s stem can greatly different
•In Latin we need to remove the genitive ending in order to gain the genitive stem
ven-a
ven-ae
humer-us
humer-i
diamet-er
diametr-i
dol-or
dolor-is
corp-us
corpor-is
de-ns
dent-is
arc-us
arc-us
gen-u
gen-us
faci-es
faci-ei

Decide what the stem of the noun is