Greek and Latin in Scientific Terminology, Lecture 10
 Andrew Dunning
 13 November 2014

Practice Test
I. Translate
con-greg-ate
•	‘with’, ‘together’ + ‘flock’ + ‘having’, ‘having the shape of’, ‘characterized by having’
ante-dors-al
•	‘before’, ‘in front of’ + ‘back’ + ‘pertaining to’, ‘like’, ‘belonging to’, ‘having the character of’
di-vert
•	‘apart’, ‘in different directions’, ‘thoroughly’ + ‘to turn’
dur-able
•	‘hard’ + ‘able to be’, ‘able to’, ‘tending to’
ad-HER-ent
•	‘to’, ‘toward’, ‘near’ + ‘to stick’ + ‘person who’, ‘that which’
II. Interpret
Prefixes
Dicynodonts are an exclusively herbivorous clade of synapsids.
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They comprise more than 100 species that are known from the Middle Permian the Late Triassic periods Dicynodonts were morphologically disparate and presented a wide range of sizes and putative ecological niches, including semi-aquatic, fossorial, arboreal and grazing.
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Despite over 150 years of dicynodont research, several paleobiological aspects of the neuroanatomy, inner ear morphology and internal cranium anatomy remain practically obscure.
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Moreover, because the destructive technique of serial sampling was the primary way to access the internal anatomy of dicynodont skulls, the data available for various taxa was inconsistent and rarely subjected to synthetic treatments.
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As a result, details of internal skull anatomy have been overlooked in recent phylogenetic analyses. Only Surkov and Benton included a large number of braincase characters in a phylogenetic analysis of dicynodonts.
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Recent advances in non-destructive imaging techniques such as high resolution computed tomography, neutron tomography, and synchrotron radiation based micro-computed tomography, hold the potential to provide significant new insight into fossil skull morphology. However, the application of such techniques to dicynodonts has been limited.
in
•	‘into’, ‘on’
de-
•	‘down’, ‘away’, ‘off’, ‘thoroughly’
di-, dis-
•	‘apart’, ‘in different directions’, ‘thoroughly
con
•	‘with’, ‘together’, ‘very’
ex-
•	‘out’, ‘from’, ‘removal’, ‘completely’
pro-
•	‘forward’, ‘in front of’
Wood Roots
The sheep used in these experiments were cared as per outlined in the Guide for the Care and Use of Animals in Agricultural Research and Teaching Consortium [8]. Thirty affected and 30 unaffected sheep were slaughtered with electrical stunning then exsanguination ….
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The study area was located in a region adjoined by the provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan, and Sichuan (26°56’-27°47’ N, 103°56’-104°51’ E), with the average elevation 2100 m above the sea level, the annual precipitation 956 mm, and the average atmospheric temperature 9–11°C.
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The main grassland species include Puccinellia (Chinam poensis ohuji), Siberian Nitraria (Nitraria sibirica pall), Floriated astragalus (Astragalus floridus), Poly-branched astragals (A. polycladus), Falcate whin (Oxytropis falcate), Ewenki automomous banner (Elymus nutans), Common leymus (Leymus secalinus), and June grass (Koeleria cristata).
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Most of the plants are herbaceous and good resources for grazing animals.
Verb-Forming Suffixes
-ate
•	‘to make’, ‘to treat’, ‘to do something with’
•	alleviate, obviate, illuminate
•	NB: This suffix often combines with the noun-forming suffix -ion (e.g. illumination)
-fy
•	‘to make’, ‘to cause’
•	terrify, liquify, pacify
•	NB: The adjective ending that corresponds to -fy is -fic, ‘making’, ‘causing’ (e.g. terrific, pacific)
-igate, -egate
•	‘to make’, ‘to drive’
•	mitigate, fumigate, navigate, variegate
-esce
•	‘to begin’, ‘to be somewhat’
•	effervescent, convalescent, arborescent
Declensions
Inflection
•	Inflection is the changing of a word’s form to reflect its grammatical role in a sentence.
•	Like Greek, Latin is a highly inflected language. The form of a word can vary based on gender, number and case (nouns and adjectives) or on person, number, tense and mood (verbs).
•	We will learn how how to decline some Latin nouns and adjectives in two out of six cases.
Cases
•	The nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence. This is the a word’s dictionary form.
•	The genitive case is used for a word that depends on another. It can usually be translated using the word ‘of’.
•	Each case also has singular and plural forms. For example:
–	lingua (nom. sing.) = ‘tongue’
–	linguae (nom. plur.) = ‘tongues’
–	linguae (gen. sing.) = ‘of the tongue’
–	linguarum (gen. plur.) = ‘of the tongues’
Genders
•	In Latin, nouns are masculine, feminine or neuter. For our purposes, you can always infer the gender of a noun from its ending (though in fact real Latin is not so regular).
•	The first declension is made up of words ending in ‘-a’, which are nearly always feminine.
•	The second declension is made up of words ending in ‘-us’, which are nearly always masculine, and words ending in ‘-um’, which are neuter.
First declension
	Singular
	Plural
	
Nominative
	-a (e.g. lingua)
	-ae (e.g. linguae)
	
Genitive
	-ae (e.g. linguae)
	-arum (e.g. linguarum)

Second declension (masculine)
	Singular
	Plural
	
Nominative
	-us (e.g. nervus)
	-i (e.g. nervi)
	
Genitive
	-i (e.g. nervi)
	-orum (e.g. nervorum)

Second declension (neuter)
	Singular
	Plural
	
Nominative
	-um (e.g. labium)
	-a (e.g. labia)
	
Genitive
	-i (e.g. labii)
	-orum (e.g. labiorum)

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•	Thus arcus costarum is ‘arch of the ribs’ and venae oculi is ‘the veins of the eye’
•	NB: Latin has neither the definite (‘the’) nor the indefinite (‘a/an’) article. Therefore vena may be translated as ‘vein’, ‘a vein’ or ‘the vein’, whichever seems appropriate.
Adjectives
•	Latin adjectives must agree in gender (masculine, feminine or neuter), number (plural or singular) and case with the adjectives they modify. In real Latin, adjectives can be placed almost anywhere in a sentence, but in scientific expressions they usually follow the noun the modify.
•	The adjectives you will see belong to a group that takes the endings of the first or the second declension, as longus, -a, -um
•	Thus we could have nervus longus, lingua longa, or labium longum.
Example Phrases
camera oculi
•	chamber of the eye
musculus flexor digiti quinti
•	the muscle (that is the) bender of the fifth finger
bursae subcutaneae
•	subcutaneous bags; bags under the skin
Problems in Modern Scientific Communication
Case Study: The Discovery of Germs
•	See ‘Blood and Guts’, ep. 5, starting at 42m46s: discusses Ignaz Semmelweis and Louis Pasteur.
•	Book published in 1861, Die Ätiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxe des Kindbettfiebers (The Aetiology, Concept, and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever).
•	Would you be convinced of the argument for a change of practice?
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•	How could the following passage from Semmelweis be made clearer?
The only cause of childbed fever is decaying animal-organic matter that is either introduced to the individual from external sources or generated internally. Thus, the prophylaxis of childbed fever involves preventing the introduction of external decaying matter, preventing the internal generation of decaying matter, and removing as quickly as possible any existing decaying matter or preventing its resorption. (trans. K. Codell Carter, p. 163)
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•	Terms used in the title of the book are superficially precise, but mask an uncertainty about the cause:
–	aetiology is from Greek aitiologia, from aitia ‘a cause’ + -logia;
–	prophylaxis is from Greek phulaxis, ‘act of guarding’.
•	What happens when we lack terminology to describe observed phenomena?
Suffixes III
-itude
•	‘quality of’, ‘state of’ (-itudo)
•	longitude, multitude, gratitude
-ity (-ety, -ty)
•	‘quality of’, ‘state of’ (-itas)
•	gravity, dexterity, brevity
-ance, -ancy; -ence, -ency
•	‘quality of being’, ‘state of being’ (-antia, -entia)
•	vigilance, hesitancy, eloquence, innocence, fluency
-or
•	‘she or he who’, ‘that which’ (-or)
•	actor, motor, victor, incisor
-ion
•	‘act of’, ‘state of’, ‘result of the of’ (-io)
•	action, commotion, incision
-ure
•	‘act of’, ‘result of the act of’ (-ura)
•	rupture, capture, fracture
-us
•	‘act of’, ‘result of the act of’
•	prospectus, consensus, impetus
-or (-our)
•	‘state of’, ‘result of the act of’
•	tumour, pallor, error
-men, -min-
•	‘result of’, ‘means of’, ‘act of’ (-men)
•	specimen, regimen, acumen, acuminate
-ment (-mentum)
•	‘result of’, ‘means of’, ‘act of’
•	ligament, ferment, excrement, momentum
-ble, -bul- (-bula, -bulum)
•	‘result of the act of’, ‘means of’, ‘place for’
•	fable, fabulous, mandible, mandibular, pabulum, infundibulum
-cle, -cul- (-culum)
•	‘result of the act of’, ‘means of’
•	spectacle, receptacle, obstacle, tentacle, tentacular, curriculum, vinculum, tentaculum
-crum, -cr-
•	‘result of the act of’, ‘means of’
•	fulcrum, simulacrum, involucrum, involucral
-trum, -tr-
•	‘result of the act of’, ‘means of’
•	spectrum, rostrum, claustrum, claustrophobia
Pluralization
Dirckx and Leider (1981)
•	When dealing with Latin nouns and adjectives in their original form, there are several different ways of pluralizing them.
•	This follows a consistent pattern, follows the word’s declension and gender (i.e. grammatical categorization).
•	Words that have been anglicized, on the other hand, tend to follow English conventions.
–	For example, the correct Latin plural of apparatus (fourth declension, masculine) is apparatus, but in English it more typically apparatuses.
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•	How can you figure this out without memorizing the full forms of Latin words and the tables of declensions? A medical dictionary such as Taber’s will provide the plural forms for technical words.
•	Failing that, use the Perseus Word Study Tool, which will tell you the word’s declension, gender, and case. If necessary, you can then look up a table of Latin nouns (as the one in this article) to find out what form the plural takes.
First Declension
•	-a (occasionally -e) becomes -ae.
•	Feminine and masculine words have the same form.
•	areola, areolae; fossa, fossae; lamina, laminae
Second Declension
•	Masculine: -us and -er (occasionally -os) become -i.
•	Neuter: -um (occasionally -on) becomes -a.
•	cactus, cacti; sulcus, sulci; bacillus, bacilli
•	puer, pueri; ager, agri
Third Declension
•	Masculine and feminine: words with various endings are pluralized with -es.
•	Neuter: plural in -a.
•	These are words in which the declined form is based on the genitive (possessive) form rather than the typical nominative form (i.e. the form the word takes when it is the subject).
•	For example, the plural of mens (genitive mentis) is mentes.
•	viscus (visceris), viscera; corpus (corporis), corpora; crus (cruris), crura
Fourth Declension
•	Masculine and feminine: -us remains -us.
•	Neuter: -u becomes -a.
•	ductus, ductus; fetus, fetus; meatus, meatus
Fifth Declension
•	Masculine and feminine: -es remains -es.
•	canities, canities; scabies, scabies
Roots, Part I
ADIP-
•	‘fat’ (adeps)
•	ADIP-os-ity, corpulence, obesity
CALL-
•	‘hard skin’ (callus)
•	CALL-ous, pertaining to an are of hardened and thickened skin, a CALLUS; CORPUS CALLOSUM, a structure of white matter in the brain
CRE-, CRESC-, CRET-
•	‘to grow’
•	in-CRE-ment; CRESC-ent; CRESC-endo; con-CRESC-ence, a growing together of the roots of two teeth; inter-CRESC-ence, a growing into each other, as of tissue
FA-, FAT-
•	‘to speak’
•	af-FA-ble; in-ef-FA-ble; FA-ble; in-FA-nt, a child, usually up to two years (in Latin, literally ‘not speaking’ or ‘without speech’)
FLU-, FLUX-
•	‘to flow’; FLUVI-, ‘river’ (fluvius)
•	in-FLU-ence; FLU-ency; af-FLUX, flow of blood or other fluid to a part; con-FLU-ent, running together, the opposite of discrete; in anatomy, coalesced or blended (applied to two or bones originally separate)
FOSS-
•	‘ditch’, ‘trench’, ‘to dig’ (fossa)
•	FOSSA, a pit or trench-like depression; FOSS-ette, a small pit or a socket containing the base of the antennule in arthropods; FOSS-ori-al, adapted for digging (applies to the claws and feet of animals)
MAGN-
•	‘large’, ‘great’ (magnus)
•	MAGN-ate; MAGN-ANIM-ous; MAGNI-LOQU-ent; MAGNI-fy, cause to appear larger; MAGN-itude, spacial quality or size
MAMM-
•	‘breast’ (mamma)
•	MAMM-al; MAMM-il-itis, inflammation of the MAM-illa, or nipple
MORT-
•	‘death’ (mors)
•	MORT-al, liable to death or causing death; MORT-al-ity, the quality of being mortal or the death rate; NATI-MORT-al-ity, the proportion of stillbirths to the general birth rate
NOC-, NOX-
•	‘harm’ (noxa)
•	in-NOC-ent; NOCI-FENS-or, efferent fibres which release chemical substances at their terminals, thus stimulating pain endings; NOCI-per-CEPT-ion, perception of pain by the central nervous system
PAT-
•	‘to spread or lie open’
•	PAT-ent, open, exposed; pre-PAT-ent period, the period in parasitic disease between the introduction of the organism and its demonstration in the body
PET-, PETIT-
•	‘to seek’
•	PET-it-ion; com-PET-it-ion; PET-ul-ant; RECTI-PET-al-ity, the tendency to rectilinear growth; ACRO-PET-al, ascending (applies to leaves, flowers or roots developing successively from an axis so that the youngest arise at the apex)
PROPRI-
•	‘one’s own’ (proprius)
•	ap-PROPRI-ate; ex-PROPRI-ate; im-PROPRI-ety; PROPRIO-SPIN-al, pertaining wholly to the spinal cord (applies to fibres)
SEC-, SEG-, SECT-
•	‘to cut’
•	in-SECT; re-SECT-ion, the operation of cutting out as the removal of a segment or section of an organ; SECT-or-ial, formed or adapted for cutting, as certain teeth
SED- (-SID-), SESS-
•	‘to sit’, ‘to settle’
•	re-SIDE; pre-SID-ent; SESS-ion; in-SESS-or-ial, adapted for perching; re-SID-ual, pertaining to that which cannot be evacuated or discharged (as residual air in the lungs, residual urine in the bladder)
SET-
•	‘bristle’ (seta)
•	SETA, any bristle-like structure, as the sporophore of liverworts and mosses; SETI-GER, a segment or process bearing bristles
TRACT-
•	‘to draw’, ‘to drag’
•	TRACT-or; at-TRACT-ive; dis-TRACT-ile, widely separate (usually applies to long-stalked anthers); CEPHALO-TRACT-or, obstetric forceps
TUBER-
•	‘swelling’ (tuber)
•	TUBER, a thickened, fleshy underground stem with surface buds; TUBER-iform, resembling or shaped like a tuber; TUBER-in, a simple protein of the globular type which occurs in potatoes
VEH-, VECT-
•	‘to carry’
•	ad-VEH-ent, afferent, carrying to an organ; con-VECT-ion, a transmission or carrying, as of heat; VECT-or
VIT-
•	‘life’ (vita)
•	VIT-al, pertaining to or necessary for life; AQUA VITAE, spirit or eau-de-vie
Roots, Part II
CAV-
•	‘hollow’ (cavus)
•	CAVI-CORN, hollow-horned; inter-CAV-it-ary, within a CAV-ity
COCT-
•	‘to cook’, ‘to boil’
•	con-COCT-ion, preparation made by combining different crude ingredients; COCTO-STA-ble, able to withstand the temperature of boiling water without change
CUT-, CUSS-
•	‘to shake’, ‘to strike’
•	con-CUSS-ion, shock, the state of being shaken, a severe shaking or jarring of a part; per-CUSS-ion, the act of firmly tapping the surface of the body with a finger or a small hammer to elicit sounds or vibratory sensations of diagnostic value
DOL-
•	‘to feel pain’, ‘to cause pain’
•	con-DOL-ence; in-DOL-ent, sluggish, usually applied to slowness in healing or growing, as an indolent ulcer, or causing little or no pain, as an indolent tumour
EBURN-
•	‘ivory’ (ebur, eburnus)
•	EBURN-eous, ivory white, white more or less tinged with yellow; EBURN-itis, increased hardness and density of the tooth enamel
FENESTR-
•	‘window’, ‘opening’ (fenestra)
•	FENESTR-ate, having small perforations or transparent spots (applies to insect wings); CRANIO-FENESTR-ia, congenital bony defect involving the total thickness of the skull, lacuna skull
GLUTIN-
•	‘glue’ (gluten)
•	GLUTEN, a mixture of proteins found in the seeds of cereals, which confers the property of toughness to dough; GLUTIN-ous, viscid, gluelike
HI-, HIAT-
•	‘to stand open’
•	HIAT-us, a space or opening; de-HI-sc-ence, the spontaneous opening of an organ or structure along certain lines in a definite direction; in-de-HI-sc-ent, not splitting at maturity (applies to certain fruits)
I-, IT-
•	‘to go’
•	in-IT-ial; ex-IT; ob-IT-uary; amb-IT-us, the outer edge or margin or the outline of an echinoid shell viewed from the apical pole; ab-I-ent, tending away from the source of stimulus (opp. ad-I-ent)
LAMIN-
•	‘thin plate’ (lamina); LAMELL-, dimin. (lamella)
•	LAMIN-ate; LAMELLA, a plate or layer; LAMELLI-CORN, having antenna joints expanded into flattened plates; LAMIN-ectomy, surgical removal of one or more neural laminas of the vertebrae
LAT-
•	‘broad’, ‘wide’ (latus)
•	di-LAT-ion; LATI-SQUAM-ate, broad-scaled
LIG-
•	‘to bind’
•	ob-LIG-at-ion; al-LIG-at-or; LIG-ament, a band of tough, flexible connective tissue; LIG-at-ure, a cord or thread for tying vessels or the act of tying or binding
MEAT-
•	‘to go’, ‘to pass’
•	MEATUS, an opening or passage; MEAT-itis, inflammation of the wall of a meatus; SUPRA-MEAT-al, applies to triangle and spine over external acoustic meatus
MIT(T)-, MIS(S)-
•	‘to send’, ‘to let go’
•	e-MISS-ary, any venous channel through the skull connecting the venous sinuses with the diploic veins and veins of the scalp; intro-MISS-ion, insertion, the act of putting in, the introduction of one body into another
PLEX-
•	‘to interweave’, ‘to braid’
•	PLEXUS, a network of interlacing nerves or anastomosing blood vessels or lymphatics; PLEX-iform, resembling a plexus or network; PLEX-ODONT, having molar teeth with complicated crown patterns and multiple roots
PUNG-, PUNCT-
•	‘to prick’, ‘point’ (punctum)
•	com-PUNCT-ion; PUNCT-uate; PUNCT-il-ious; PUNCT-iform, having the nature of qualities of a point, or seeming to be located at a point (of a sensation), or in bacteriology, very minute colonies; PUNG-ent, ending in a rigid and sharp point
RIG-
•	‘to be stiff’
•	RIG-id, stiff or hard; RIG-esc-ent, becoming rigid; RIGID-itas, stiffness, rigidity
RUB(R)-
•	‘red’ (ruber)
•	BILI-RUBR-in, a reddish-yellow pigment of bile and blood; RUBIGIN-ose, of a brownish-red tint, rust-coloured; e-RUB-esc-ent, blushing red
SCRIB-, SCRIPT-
•	‘to write’
•	de-SCRIBE; pre-SCRIBE; sub-SCRIBE; circum-SCRIPT, a marginal sphincter when sharply defined, as in sea anemones
VOLV-, VOLUT-
•	‘to roll’, ‘to turn’
•	in-VOLVE; re-VOLUT-ion; VOLUTE; ob-VOLUTE, bent downward and inward (applies to wings, elytra of insects); VOLV-ulus, a twisting of the bowel upon itself so as to occlude the lumen
Roots, Part III
AG-, ACT-
•	‘to do’, ‘to drive’, ‘to act’
•	ACT-ion; AG-ile; CUTI-re-ACT-ion, a local skin reaction following inoculation with or the application of extracts of pathogenic organisms
ALB-
•	‘white’ (albus)
•	ALBI-FACT-ion, the act or process of blanching or rendering white; ALBUM-in, a protein substance found in nearly every animal and some vegetable tissue; ALBUR-num, sapwood or splint wood (i.e., the soft, white substance between the inner bark and true wood)
CER-
•	‘wax’ (cera)
•	CERI-FER-ous, wax-bearing, waxy; CERE-ous, waxy
FIL-
•	‘thread’ (filum)
•	FILI-GER-ous, with threadlike outgrowths or flagella; FIL-ar-iasis, a diseased state due to the presence of nematode worms of the super family Filarioidea
FOR-
•	‘to bore’, ‘to pierce’ (forare)
•	FOR-amen, the opening through the coats of an ovule, or any small perforation; FOR-amin-ule, a minute foramen; FOR-amini-FER-a, an order of protozoans with calcareous shells with minute openings for pseudopodia
FOV-
•	‘pit’ (fovea)
•	FOVEA, a small pit, fossa or depression, or a small hollow at leaf base; FOVE-ate, pitted; FOVE-ol-ate, having regular, small depressions
FUNG-
•	‘mushroom’, ‘fungus’ (fungus)
•	FUNGI-VOR-ous, fungus-eating animals and plants; FUNG-at-ion, the act of growing up rapidly, like a fungus (as certain pathologic growths); FUNG-os-ity, fungous excrescence, fungous quality
GLOMER-
•	‘ball of yarn’ (glomus)
•	GLOMUS, a fold of the mesothelium containing a ball of blood vessels; con-GLOMER-ation, that which is made up of parts from various sources
HAL-, HALIT-
•	‘to breathe’
•	HALIT-us, a vapour, as that expired by the lungs; HALIT-osis, the state of having offensive breath
MUC-
•	‘mucus’ (mucus)
•	MUCI-fic, mucus-secreting; MUCO-CUT-aneous, pertaining to skin and mucous membrane
NUTRI-, NUTRIT-
•	‘to nourish’
•	NUTRIC-ism, a relationship of two animals with all the benefit to one partment; NUTRI-ent, that which affords nutrition
PALP-
•	‘to touch’, ‘to stroke’
•	im-PALP-able, not capable of being felt, imperceptible to touch; PALP-it-at-ion, any heart action of which the patient is conscious PALPO-CIL, a stiff, sensory filament attached to sense cells of Hydromedusae
SEP-, SEPT-
•	‘to separate’, ‘wall’ (septum)
•	SEPTUM, a partition, a dividing wall between two spaces or cavities; e-SEPT-ate, not supplied with septa; SEPT-ectomy, excision of part of the nasal septum
SPIR-
•	‘to breathe’
•	SPIRIT; con-SPIRE; a-SPIR-at-or, a negative pressure apparatus for withdrawing liquids from cavities; su-SPIR-at-ion, a sigh, the act of sighing; tran-SPIR-at-ion, exhalation of vapour through pores or stomata
STRU-, STRUCT-
•	‘to construct’, ‘to build’
•	STRUCT-ure; de-STRUCT-ion; ob-STRU-ent, obstructing, tending to obstruct
TERMIN-
•	‘end’, ‘boundary’ (terminus)
•	ab-TERMIN-al, going from the end inward; at-TERMIN-al, toward the terminal; co-TERMIN-ous, having the same or coincident boundaries
UMBR-
•	‘shade’, ‘shadow’ (umbra)
•	UMBR-age; ad-UMBR-ate; ex-UMBR-al, pertaining to the rounded upper surface of a jellyfish; ob-UMBR-ate, with some structure overhanging the parts so as partially to conceal them; UMBR-aculum, any umbrellalike structure
UNGU-
•	‘nail’ (of finger or toe) (unguis)
•	UNGUI-FER-ate, having nails, claws or hooklike processes; UNGUI-cul-ata, Mammalia with nails or claws as distinguished from hoofed mammals and cetaceans
VEL-
•	‘veil’, ‘covering’ (velum)
•	VELUM, a membrane or structure similar to a veil; VELI-GER, second stage in larval life of certain molluscs when the head bears a velum
VISCER-
•	‘entrails’ (viscus)
•	e-VISCER-at-ion, removal of internal organs; VISCERO-SENS-ory, relating to sensation in the viscera