SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH SCIENCES

LEOPARDS HILL CAMPUS

LECTURE NOTES IN MEDICAL TERMINOLOGIES

LECTURE 1 HISTORY

By

Prof Kasonde Bowa

MSc,M.Med,FRCS,FCS,FACS,DPH,MPH,FCMS(Z)

Programme: MBChB
Course: Medical Terminologies
Code: PMMT 211
Module: Module 1 History
Topic: The History of Medical Terminologies

Introduction:

No one likes to drink milk, everyone including babies resists this. The same is true of
a subject like Medical terminologies. You all want exceptions from a course like this.
You just want to go straight into learning Medicine. This is a waste of time you say.
The same is true of the alphabet, none wants to learn the alphabet. It appears
tedious and irrelevant. However for anyone who has gone through the process, they
rather that everyone did this first before the start learning how to read or write.
Medical Terminologies are the language of Medicine, before you can work as a
Doctor, you must first know the language. You will communicate better with your
colleagues and you will treat you patients more successfully.

The topic on the History of Medical Terminologies has 3 components

1.The definition of Medical Terminologies
2.The history of Medical Terminologies
3.The uses of Medical Terminologies

This module discusses Medical Terminologies and has 3 main learning objectives as
outlined below.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this the student should be able to
1.Define Medical Terminologies
2.Describe the History Medical Terminologies
3.Explain the use of medical Terminologies
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These materials contain the lecture note of the Module 1 course in Medical
terminologies. They are accompanied by a power point audio lecture. These
materials will supplement your learning of the audio power point lecture.

Lecture Notes

Introduction
Medical terminologies is the day to day language that Doctors , Nurses and other
health professional use in the hospital setting as the communicate with each other
and the patients. This language can sometimes be confusing to some one who is not
familiar with this language. Just like football fans pick up the language of football, so
sometimes pick up this language and sometimes misunderstand or misuse it. This
course will provide a landing pad for students which will help them to learn more
easily this language because it is used in the teaching of many subjects, course and
modules that make up the medical training. Many of the lecturers are Doctors and
may also use this language which may act as a barrier to the learning of students.
So it is a good thing to learn this before starting the actual medical training. Most
schools training do not have the provision for such a course. However more and
more schools are finding it necessary to do this.

The outline of this lecture will contain these three elements as outlined earlier
A.The definition
B.The History
C.The Usage

A.Definition

What are Medical terminologies. A simple definition is given below.

Medical terminology is language used to precisely describe the human body including its

components, processes, conditions affecting it, and procedures performed upon it. Medical
terminology is used in the field of medicine

The terminologies of medicine have developed using three languages mainly. These are
Greek, Latin and English.Many of the terminologies are a combination of these three
languages. When the Greek conquered the known world with Alexander the Great the
brought in their culture language and tradition. This was far advanced in sciences and
medicine than many of the groups they conquered.

Medical Terminologies use 3 main languages

1.The first language is Greek-first language of Science
2.The second is Greek-first language of Medicine
3.The thirds in English- first language of international Medical Science
This followed the dominant group in that ruled at the time.

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B.The History of Medical Terminologies
How did these terminologies come about and who was responsible for them. The
terminology developed as the Science of Medicine itself developed. The world develop
from a predominantly religious view of life to a scientific one.

There are five phase in the history of Medical Terminologies which are recognized.
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1.Galen- colloquial Greek 10 Century-
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2.Andreus Vesalius- 15 Century in Latin
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3.Slyvius in Paris- 16 Century
th th
4. Mixed Terminologies -17 to 18 Century
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5. International – 19 Century Terminologia Anatomica –Latin and English

Cladius Galen 129- 216 AD

Cladius Galen is called the Prince of Physicians. was the first Doctor who understood
that science was the basis of disease. He built of the teachings of the Greek Physician
Hippocrates who is called the father of Medicine. Galen did dissection monkeys and
began to name the organs of the body. He used simple common Greek terms.

Andreas Vesalius 31st Dec 1514 to 15th Oct 1564

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Andreas Vesalius build on the work of Galen.He was the first to dissect human
Beings. In 1543 he wrote the classic book Humanis Corpora Fabrica(Of the Human
Body). In this he described the human organs and generally numbered them. This
was the first comprehensive book of Medical terminologies.He is called the Father of
Anatomy

Jacobus Sylvius 1478-1555

Jacobus Sylvius built further on the work of Andreas Vesalius adding descriptive
terms to the body organs.He became a Professor in Paris and is commonly
considered the father of Medical Terminologies.

Nationalization

In the 18th Century there was an increase in the number of medical schools as
industrialization in general. This lead to increase in writing and published books. The
result was that medical terminologies increased in different f the regional and
national languages in Europe.The medical terms varied from place to place as to
their meaning

Internationalization

In the 19th century many anatomists and Physicians began to try to standardize
these terms. This became impossible for a single person to do. So in 1895 there was
an attempt by a group of Anatomist to create standard Medical terms. This became
called the Nomina Anatomica. There have been over there years several revisions to
these terminologies and this has resulted in the unification of medical terms.The
guidelines which are currently in place combine the use of greek, latin and English in
Medical terminologies.

C.The Uses of Medical Terminologies

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The medical terminologies has several uses in medicine in general at list 5 uses can
be listed.

1.The use in naming of body organs and structures

2.There use in describing the location of body organs

3.To describe the location of disease in an organ or a Medical image

4.The description of Medical disease and disease processes

5.To describe the diagnosis, investigation and treatment

In general these provide the language that is used in the hospital to communicate
among health workers and the sicks.

Conclusion

Medical terminology is the language of Medical practice. It developed as the field of

Medicine developed as well. This meant that much of the medical language contains
Greek and Latin.The language development went through 5 periods. This started
from 100AD to the 19th Century, from very few terms to a large volume of words.
These terminologies are confusing but are easier to under with this historical
background.