Study instructions



Demands
•Active attendance at the classes – one unexcused absence possible, excuses give in to the study
office •Possibility of substituting your classes in other seminar group (has to be the same week as
your absence, max. twice a semester) •Taking two partial exams (in the case of successfull
completion over 70 %, you get bonus 5 % for your final exam)
•Regular homestudy required

Methods of teaching
•Preparatory course dealing with linguistic issues only
•7 units in one semester – exercises in the handbook (Prucklová, Severová – Introduction to Latin
and Greek Terminology in Medicine)
•Drill in the IS
•Study materials under your personal administration in IS
•Study literature (illustrated dictionaries)

Latin pronunciation



Vowels
•Short
Øa – anaemia, allergia, appendix etc. – as in cut, shut, mud etc.
Øe – membrum, cerebrum, epilepsia etc. – as in very, set, let, get etc.
Øi – diabetes, internus, iliacus etc. – as in live, give, sit etc.
Øo – osseus, aorta, tonsilla etc. – as in original, on, also etc.
Øu – purus, gutta, profundus etc. – as in good, pull, put etc.
Øy = i (in words of Greek origin)
•Long
Øa – sanus, oblongatus, coronarius etc. – as in car, park, lard etc.
Øe – vena, cera, chole etc. – as in sad, declare, care etc.
Øi – minimus, spina, signum etc. – as in clear, ear, read etc.
Øo – mucosus, pneumonia, novus etc. – as in door, floor, call etc.
Øu – fractura, sutura, purus etc. – as in root, room, soon etc.
Øy = i
Ø
•
o
Ø

Diphtongs
•Two vowels put together
•ae – in words like anaemia, vertebrae, venae etc. pronounced always as long e as in care, declare,
rare etc.
•oe
ØIn the words of Latin origin (usually in the middle of a word) pronounced the same as diphtong ae
(long e) – e.g. lagoena
ØIn the words of Greek origin (at the end of a word) pronounced as two syllables o-e – e.g.
dyspno-e, diplo-e
•eu – only in the words of Greek origin (pneumonia, eutrophia) pronounced in a phonetic way
•

Problematic consonants
•c
Ø[ts] – before e/i/ae/oe – cera, acidum, caecus, coeliacus
Ø[k] – before a/o/u/consonant – cancer, costa, cura, clavicula
•g – alwyas pronounced as in tongue, grave etc.
•q(u) - [kv] – quantum, aqua
•S – always pronounced as in sit, save etc.
•T - if followed by –ia,-ie,-io,-iu pronounced as [ts] – patientia, substantia; however if preceded
by s or x pronunciation remains [t] – ostium
Ø
o
•
•

Length of syllables
•Two-syllable words – accent on the first syllable
• like in vita, vena, cura, ulna etc.
•Three or more-syllable words
oIf the last but one syllable is long, it bears an accent – angina, carcinoma, retina, dentista
etc.
oIf the last but one syllable is short, the preceding syllable bears an accent – fibula, tunica,
valvula, vesica etc.
o
o
oThe length of vowels is not marked nor in Latin neither in this handbook!

Grammatical cathegories of nouns



Gender
•Masculine
•Feminine
•Neutral
•
•Not always intuitive – you have to learn the gender of particular words!!!

Number
•Singular
•Plural

Case
•The relationships between nouns and adjectives are expressed not only by prepositions, but also by
case endings (according to particular declension to which a noun belongs) •Nominative (Nom.) – the
subject of sth – upright case (1st dictionary entry) •Genitive (Gen.) – functions as English
preposition of, also possessive function, denotes the declension of a noun (2nd dictionary entry)
•Accusative (Acc.) – the object of sth, with prepositions denoting motion towards sth – ad, prope,
in •Ablative (Abl.) – expresses separation or motion away from sth, with prepositions e/ex, a/ab,
de, sine, cum

Declension
•Each noun belongs to one of 5 declensions according to which the case endings are put to them, the
division of nouns into declensions is based on their stem (according to Gen. plural form)
1.1st declension – a-stems – ven-a-rum
2.2nd declension – o-stems – nerv-o-rum
3.3rd declension
Øi-stems – pelv-i-um
Øconsonant stems – dolo-r-um, pon-t-um, sectio-n-um
4.4th declesion – u-stems – duct-u-um
5.5th declension – e-stems – faci-e-rum

Adjectives
•Adjectives always have to correspond with the noun to which they belong in gender, number and
case!!!!
•
•fractura ulnae dextrae complicata
•vertebrae thoracicae
•ad lagoenam fuscam
•cum anaemia perniciosa

Prepositions
•with accusative
Øad = towards, to – ad cranium
Øante = before – ante fracturam
Øpost = after – post operationem
Øper = through – per rectum
Øin (motion)= towards, into – in lagoenam
Øprope (motion) = near to – prope ulnam
Øpropter = because of – propter anaemiam
•with ablative
Øe/ex = out of – e scatula
Øa/ab = from, by  – a medico
Øsine = without – sine insufficientia
Øcum = with – cum digito medio
Øpro = for the sake of – pro adulto