Review article

Teaching neuroanatomical terminology in english as part of the language of medicine

Vanya Goranova ; Department of anatomy, Histology and embryology; 2 Medical University, Varna, Bulgaria
Violeta Tacheva ; Department of Foreign languages, communication and Sport, Medical University, Varna, Bulgaria

Abstract

Neuroanatomy is the study of the structural organization of the nervous system. Its terminology is closely related to the origin and development of medical terminology. Understanding linguistic phenomena such as etymology, synonyms, antonyms, paronyms, acronyms etc. helps the students in achieving a higher medical competence. The specific terms could be distributed into several categories related to: 1. geometric objects (pyramid, uncus, fornix); 2. colours (red nucleus, white matter, gray matter); 3. skull structures (lacrimal nerve – lacrimal bone, mandibular nerve – mandible); 4. author name (Schwann cells, Broca area, Parkinson disease). Some terms in the english terminology preserve their original latin form (substantia nigra, corpus callosum) but others are modified (red nucleus, latin - nucleus ruber). This model of investigation may be applied to other medical disciplines.

Keywords

neuroanatomical terminology; etymology; Synonyms; antonyms; Paronyms; eponyms; Mythonyms; toponyms; acronyms; Backronyms

Hrčak ID:

110357

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/110357

Publication date:

1.5.2013.

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