Language/Modern-greek-1453/Culture/Greek-in-Medical-Vocabulary

Borrowings from Greek in medical vocabulary

The society of ancient Greece placed a high premium on literature just as much as it did on the realms of science and mathematics. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that Greek physicians particularly stood out in the field of diagnostics—an area that significantly gains from a well of imaginative prowess and an inclination for metaphorical thought.

For instance, the Greek term "diabetes mellitus" translates directly to "flowing through/sweet as honey". This term was initially used to describe the sweet scent of urine from a person diagnosed with diabetes. Greek physicians developed terminologies for various medical conditions that continue to serve as the basis for modern-day disease classifications.

The Romans eagerly acquired this invaluable pool of medical knowledge from the Greeks, ensuring its preservation through meticulous translations into Latin and dissemination amongst their extensive subjects. Cornelius Celsus, a Roman nobleman, compiled a vast medical encyclopedia known as De Medicina (About Medicine), documenting the contemporary knowledge of Greek and Roman medicine.

Besides Greek and Latin, Arabic emerged as another significant language in the field of medicine, thanks to the remarkable expansion of the Arab empire during the 7th century. Arab doctors enthusiastically embraced Greek medical wisdom, guaranteeing its preservation and enriching it further.

The most revered Arab physician was Ibn Sînâ, also known as Avicenna in Latin (10th–11th century). His magnum opus, The Canon of Medicine, a comprehensive medical encyclopedia, became a central medical text in numerous medieval universities and remained in use up until the 17th century.

Numerous Arabic terms entered English via Latin and then French. These include words like alcohol, alchemy, alkali, and nitrate. French played a crucial role in bridging the gap between Latinized Greek and English, with countless Greek- and Latin-rooted words becoming an integral part of contemporary English vocabulary. These words include superior, inferior, male, female, face, gout, migraine, odor, ointment, pain, venom, acne, basis, chaos, character, criterion, dogma, horizon, stigma, asthma, trauma, and so on.

A group of influential Italian doctors established a prominent medical school in Salerno (Italy) during the Middle Ages, sparking a revival and appreciation of Greek physicians' teachings, such as those of Hippocrates and Galen. This trend was emulated by medical schools across Europe, uniformly adopting the blended Greek and Latin terminology. The Latinized form of Greek remains in use by medical scientists to this day.

Word Formation

As previously noted, Greek physicians excelled in diagnostics, which is why many clinical terms originate from Greek words such as cardiology, nephropathy, and gastritis. Conversely, Latin terms primarily make up the anatomical vocabulary, with examples like cor, ren, and ventriculus.

The Greek language proves to be a fertile ground for specialized terminology due to its inherent flexibility, particularly its exceptional capacity for compound word construction. As medical science rapidly advanced over the past two centuries, necessitating a wealth of new terms for freshly identified diseases and innovative medical equipment, Greek words—often in their Latinized forms—emerged as the preferred choice. Interestingly, nearly half of the commonly used medical terms, though rooted in Greek and Latin, are less than a century old.

Table 1 below pairs some Greek words for human body organs or parts with the corresponding common medical conditions and human organs in straightforward English:

Organ in Greek	Organ in English	Adjective/Disease
brachion	arm	brachial/ --
derma	skin	dermal/dermatitis
hepar	liver	hepatic/hepatitis
kardia	heart	cardiac/carditis
nephros	kidney	nephric/nephrosis
osteon	bone	osteal/osteoma

* Organs or parts of human body associated with nominal terms

Common diagnostic suffixes

Procedure Suffixes	Lay Description	Term	Meaning
-ec-tomy	cutting out	mastectomy hysterectomy	surgical removal of the breast surgical removal of the womb
-emia	in the blood	uremia	urea in the blood
-gram	result of imaging	angiogram	blood vessel imaging recording (visible result of the procedure)
-graphy	process of imaging	angiography	blood vessel imaging recording (the procedure)
-itis	inflammation of	arthritis	inflammation of the joint
-logy	study science of	neurology	study of nerves
-plasty	repair	angioplasty	blood vessel repair
-scopy	looking	gastroscopy arthroscopy	looking inside the stomach looking inside the joint
-(o)tomy	cutting	gastrotomy	operation on the stomach

Short grammatical suffixes are attached to word roots to form parts of speech, such as adjectives and nouns. Many of these same suffixes are used in the English language. One group of the grammatical suffixes denote pertaining to, as shown in Table  below

Pertaining to

Term	Definition
cardi-ac	pertaining to the heart (cardi: heart)
neur-al	pertaining to a nerve (neur: nerve)
muscul-ar	pertaining to muscle (muscul: muscle)
pulmon-ary	pertaining to the lungs (pulmon: lung)
esophag-eal	pertaining to the esophagus (esophag: esophagus)
thorac-ic	pertaining to the chest (thorac: chest)
poster-ior	pertaining to the back (of the body) (poster: back (of body), behind, posterior)
cutane-ous	pertaining to the skin (cutane: skin)
acous-tic	pertaining to hearing (acous: hearing)

Prefixes: Position, Number, Measurement, and Direction

Prefix	Lay Description	Examples	Meaning
ab-	away from	abductor	leading away from
ad-	towards	adductor	leading towards
ante-	before	antenatal	before birth
bi-	two	biceps	two-headed (muscle)
anter(o)-	front	anterior	at the front front
epi-	on top of	epidural	on top of the dura
endo-	inside	endoscopy	looking inside
intra-	in between	intracostal	between the ribs
para-	alongside	parathyroid	alongside the thyroid
peri-	around	perinatal	around birth
post-	after	postnatal	after birth
pre-	before	prenatal	before birth
poster(o)-	behind back	posterior	at the back behind
inter-	between	interpersonal	between people
meta-	beyond after	metastasis	secondary growth secondary spread (of canc

Prefixes relating to position in the body

Prefix	Meaning of Prefix	Examples	Meaning
a-	no	aphasia	no speech
neo-	new	neoplasia	new growth (cancer)
dys-	abnormal	dysfunctional dysmenorrhea	not functioning normally abnormal menstrual periods
macr(o)-	large	macroscopic	visible to the naked eye
micr(o)-	small	microscopic	visible only using a microscope
poly-	many	polyuria	[passing] a lot of urine
olig(o)-	few	oliguria	not [passing] much urine
megal(o)-	large	megacolon	abnormally enlarged colon
erythr(o)-	red	erythrocyte	red [blood] cell
leuk(o)-	white	leukemia	“white blood”
cyan(o)-	blue	cyanosis	having a bluish color
melan(o)-	black	melanoma	black swelling
hyper-	higher over-	hyperglycemia hyperactive	high blood sugar level overactive
hypo-	underneath below	hypoglycemia	low blood sugar level
sub-	underneath below	subnormal	lower than normal
super-	higher over-	superjacent	lying (just) above
uni-	one	unilateral	on one side
ambi-	both	ambilateral	on both sides

To Summarize

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Author

➡ Marianthi

• Ευγενική χορηγία που στοχεύει να βοηθήσει μαθητές ή μη, απανταχού της Γης, που επιδίδονται στην εκμάθηση της ελληνικής γλώσσας!
• Contribution bénévole visant à aider les personnes, partout dans le monde, qui sont engagées dans l'apprentissage de la langue grecque !
• Voluntary contribution aimed at helping people, all over the world, who are committed to learning the Greek language! 

Sources

• https://www.transcendwithwords.com/post/medical-terminology-greek-and-latin-origins-and-word-formation-guidelines