Greek and Latin in Scientific Terminology, Lecture 12

Andrew Dunning

27 November 2014

Final Exam

Wednesday, 17 Dec.

  • Cumulative: all Greek and Latin vocabulary is fair game, weighted equally.
  • Will also include Greek transliteration (i.e. rewriting words in the Greek alphabet into Roman characters, as in the first test).

Structure

  • Six sections.
  • Out of a total 250 marks.

I. Analyse

  • Historical and grammatical questions based on the lectures and readings: multiple choice.
  • 10 marks

II. Transliterate

  • Rewrite the Greek words using the Roman alphabet.
  • Example: ἕλιξ
    • Answer: helix.
  • 21 marks

III. Define

  • Provide a definition for Greek and Latin stems.
  • Example: TELE- (answer: afar)
  • 50 Greek; 50 Latin
  • 100 marks

IV. Read

  • Identify ten words from Latin or Greek in a following passage, breaking them down into their constituent parts and providing the definition of each stem.
  • Example answer: at/tent/ion/al: ‘to’ + ‘to hold’ + ‘state of’ + ‘pertaining to’.
  • 20 marks

V. Dissect

  • Analyse the following words, dividing each word into its Latin and Greek elements and giving the meaning of each
  • Example: popular (2 marks).
    • Answer: popul/ar: ‘people’ + ‘having the character of’.
  • 58 marks

VI. Translate

  • Form a complete English word from the Latin or Greek roots corresponding to the definitions provided.
  • Example: ‘before’, ‘in front of’ + ‘back’ + ‘pertaining to’, ‘like’, ‘belonging to’, ‘having the character of’ (Latin, 3 marks)
    • Answer: ante/dors/al.
  • 41 marks

Counting in Latin

SEMI-

  • ‘half’, ‘partly’
  • SEMI-LUN-ate, half-moon-shaped; SEMI-CAUD-ate, with a rudimentary tail

UN-

  • ‘one’ (unus)
  • UN-ique; UN-iform; UN-ANIM-ity; UNI-FOLI-ate, with one leaf; UNI-PAR-ous, producing one offspring at a birth; UNI-STRATE, having only one layer

PRIM-

  • ‘first’ (primus)
  • PRIM-ary; PRIM-ates, the highest order of the vertebrate class Mammalia, including man, apes, monkeys and lemurs; PRIMI-PAR-ous, pertaining to a woman bearing or giving birth to her first child

SESQUI-

  • ‘one-and-a-half times’
  • SESQUI-CENT-ENNI-ial; SEQUI-CHLOR-ide, a compound of chlorine and another element containing three parts of chlorine and two of the other element; SESQUI-OX-ide

DU-

  • ‘two’ (duo)
  • DU-et; DU-al; DU-PLIC-ate; DU-PLICI-DENT, with two pairs of incisors in the upper jaw;

BI-, BIN-

  • ‘two’, ‘twice’
  • BI-NATE, growing in pairs; BI-FID, forked, opening with a median cleft; BI-STRAT-ose, with cells arranged in two layers

SECOND-, SECUND-

  • ‘second’, ‘following’ (secundus)
  • SECOND-ary; SECUNDI-GRAV-ida, a woman pregnant the second time

TRI-

  • ‘three’
  • TRI-DENT; TRI-VI-al; TRI-COST-ate, with three ribs; TRI-FID, cleft to form three lobes

TERTI-

  • ‘third’
  • TERTI-ary, third, pertaining to third stage of disease; TERT-ian, recurring every other day, as a tertian fever

TERN-

  • ‘three each’; TER-, ‘three times’
  • TERN-ary, consisting of or based on three, or pertaining to a crystal system in which three-sided forms occur, or an alloy with three elements; TER-VAL-ent, having a valence of three, triple

QUADR(U)-

  • ‘four’
  • QUADRU-PLE; QUADRI-JUG-ate, applies to pinnate lear having four pairs of leaflets; QUADRU-PED, a four-footed animal

QUART-

  • ‘fourth’; QUATERN-, ‘four each’
  • QUART-an, recurring every three days (or four, counting inclusively), as on first, fourth and seventh day; QUATERN-ate, in sets of four (applies to leaves growing in fours from one point

QUINQUE-

  • ‘five’
  • QUINQUE-PART-ite, divided into five parts

QUINT-

  • ‘fifth’; QUIN-, ‘five each’
  • QUIN-ary, applies to flower symmetry in which there are five parts to a whorl; QUINTU-PL-et, one of five children born at one birth

SEX-

  • ‘six’; SEXT-, ‘sixth’
  • SEXT-ant, a maximum angle of sixty degrees; SEX-OSTI-atae, group of spiders marked by six cardiac ostia

SEPT-, SEPTEM-

  • ‘seven’; SEPTIM-, ‘seventh’
  • SEPTEM-ber; SEPTEM-PART-ite, divided into seven parts; SEPTIM-al, based on the number seven

OCT-

  • ‘eight’; OCTAV-, ‘eighth’
  • OCT-ave; OCT-avo; OCTO-RADI-ate, having eight rays or arms; OCT-ane, the eighth member of the paraffin or marsh gas series

NOVEM-

  • ‘nine’; NON-, ‘ninth’
  • NOVEM-ber; NON-illion, ten to the thirtieth power; NON-an, having an exacerbation every ninth day

DECEM-

  • ‘ten’; DEC-, DECIM-, ‘tenth’
  • DECIM-ate; DECI-LITRE, one-tenth of a litre; DECEM-FID, cleft into ten parts

CENT-

  • ‘hundred’, ‘hundredth’
  • CEN-ENN-ial; CENT-uri-on; CENTI-PEDE, elongated segmented arthropods with many legs; CENTI-metre, one-hundredth of a metre

MIL(L)-

  • ‘thousand’, ‘thousandth’
  • MILL-ENN-ium; MILLI-PEDE, myriopods constituting the the class Diplopoda having numerous segments and legs; MILLI-metre, one-thousandth of a metre

Greek and Latin in the Metric System

Original Metric Prefixes

Text Factor Derivation
myria 10000 Greek, ‘10,000’
kilo 1000 Greek, ‘thousand’
hecto 100 Greek, ‘hundred’
deca 10 Greek, ‘ten’
(none) 1
deci 0.1 Latin, ‘tenth’
centi 0.01 Latin, ‘hundred’
milli 0.001 Latin, ‘thousand’
Text Factor Derivation
tera 1000000000000 Greek, ‘monster’
giga 1000000000 Greek, ‘giant’
mega 1000000 Greek, ‘great’
kilo 1000 Greek, ‘thousand’
hecto 100 Greek, ‘hundred’
deca 10 Greek, ‘ten’
(none) 1
deci 0.1 Latin, ‘tenth’
centi 0.01 Latin, ‘hundred’
milli 0.001 Latin, ‘thousand’
micro 0.000001 Greek, ‘small’
nano 0.000000001 Greek, ‘dwarf’
pico 0.000000000001 Spanish, ‘little bit’

The Third Declension

Case Review

  • Nominative case: used to indicate the subject of a sentence.
  • Accusative case: used to indicate the object of a sentence.
  • Genitive case: used to indicate possession or close association.

Odd Things in the Third Declension

  • Often a significant difference between the nominative singular and the root that we end up with in English.
  • Ending for the nominative singular is inconsistent.
  • Often impossible to guess the gender by looking at the ending of the word.

Masculine and Feminine Nouns

Singular Plural
Nominative — (e.g. radix) -es (e.g. radices)
Genitive -is (e.g. radicis) -um (-ium) (e.g. radicium)

Neuter Nouns

Singular Plural
Nominative — (e.g. foramen) -a (-ia) (e.g. foramina)
Genitive -is (e.g. foraminis) -um (-ium) (e.g. foraminum)

Adjectives

Masc. and Fem. Neuter Masc. and Fem. Neuter
singular plural
nom. -is (e.g. dorsalis) -e (e.g. dorsale) -es (e.g. dorsales) -ia (e.g. dorsalia)
gen. -is (e.g. dorsalis) -is (e.g. doralis) -ium (e.g. dorsalium) -ium (e.g. dorsalium)

adductor brevis

ductus semicircularos

filum terminale

os terminale

incisura anterior auris

cornu inferius

musculi subcostales

arteriae recurrentes

digitus annularis

nervus abducens

foramen occipale magnum

venae comitantes

arteria dorsalis

fissura longitudinalis cerebri

musculus cervicalis ascendens

musculi intercostales externi

The Fourth Declension

Fourth Declension: Masculine

Singular Plural
Nominative -us (e.g. ductus) -us (e.g. ductus)
Genitive -us (e.g. ductuum) -uum (e.g. ductuum)

Fourth Declension: Neuter

Singular Plural
Nominative -u (e.g. cornu) -ua (e.g. cornua)
Genitive -us or -u (e.g. cornu[s]) -uum (e.g. cornuum)

ductus lacrimales

ligamenta collateralia articulationum digitorum manus

genu internum radicis nervi (facialis)

septum sinuum (frontalium)

arteria genu (suprema)

ligamenta (cruciata) genu

processus articulares

apertura externa aqueductus vestibuli

cervix cornu

The Fifth Declension

The Fifth Declension

Singular Plural
Nominative -es (e.g. scabies) -es (e.g. scabies)
Genitive -ei or -u (e.g. scabiei) -erum (e.g. scabierum)

facies dorsalis

arteria transversa faciei

facies articulares inferiores

Back to the Greeks

The Sanctuary at Epidaurus

  • This was a major Greek temple where people went for healing.
  • See Who were the Greeks?, ep. 1, 22m7s.
  • What is familiar about the practices here? How does the mindset here differ from that of a modern hospital?
  • Are the approaches here effective methods of informing patients about the
  • Medical knowlege aside, where would you rather be treated?

Romans to the Early Modern Period

Today

  • Marečková et al. (2002) demonstrate that Latin is still a primary means of commmunication: they examine anatomical nomenclature, terms in clinical medicine, and pharmaceutical terminology.
  • Notes the attitude that it doesn’t necessarily matter (and might even be preferable) if the patient does not know what the term means.
    • Pliny the Elder: the Roman people ‘believe less what regards their own health, if they understand’
  • Outlines the development of the Terminologia Anatomica (International Anatomical Terminology).
  • The Greeks and Romans got quite a ways by thinking about a subject, rationalizing it, as opposed to observation.
  • What questions are we asking now that might be pointing us in the right direction but might be based on our past, and that we have no way of proving?

Roots, Part I

FACI-, (-FICI-)

  • ‘face’, ‘surface’ (facies)
  • BI-FACI-al, applies to leaves with distinct upper and lower surfaces; CORONO-FACI-al, relating to the crown of the head and the face; inter-FACE, a surface which forms the boundary between two faces or systems; super-FICIES, outer surface

FRUG-, FRUCT-

  • ‘fruit’ (frux)
  • FRUCTI-FIC-at-ion, fruit formation; FRUCT-ose, fruit sugar; FRUCT-esc-ence, the period of maturing of fruits

GEMIN-

  • ‘twin’, ‘paired’ (geminus); GEMELL-, dimin. (gemellus)
  • GEMIN-ate, growing in pairs, paired; BI-GEMIN-ate, doubly paired, twin-forked; BI-GEMIN-y, the condition of occurring in pairs, or in cardiology, a premature beat coupled with each normal heartbeat

GEN-, GENIT-

  • ‘to produce’, ‘to beget’; GENER-, ‘race’, ‘kind’ (genus)
  • pro-GENIT-or; con-GENI-al; con-GEN-er, a person, animal, plant or thing allied by origin, nature or function to another; GENIT-al; GENER-ic

GINGIV-

  • ‘the gums’ (gingiva)
  • GINGIVA, the gums; LABIO-GINGIV-al, pertaining to the lips and gums

INCUD-

  • ‘anvil’ (incus)
  • INCUS, the middle arc of the chain of ossicles in the ear, so named from its resemblance to an anvil; INCUD-ectomy, surgical removal of the incus

LUTE-

  • ‘yellow’, ‘corpus luteum’ (luteus)
  • CORPUS LUTEUM, the yellow endocrine body formed in the ovary at the site of a ruptured Graafian follicle; LUTE-al, pertaining to the corpus luteum; LUTE-in, a yellow chemical isolated from egg yolk

MALLE-

  • ‘hammer’ (malleus)
  • MALLEUS, one of the ossicles of the inner ear having the shape of a hammer; MALLE-at-ion, a spasmodic action of the hands, consisting of continuously striking any nearby object

NOD-

  • ‘knot’ (nodus)
  • NODE, the knob or joint of a stem at which the leaves arise, or an aggregation of specialized cardiac cells, or any small rounded organ, knob or protuberance

OLE-

  • ‘oil’ (oleum)
  • OLE-in, a fat which is liquid at ordinary temperatures, found in animal and vegetable tissues; OLEI-FER-ous, producing oil

ORB-, ORBIT-

  • ‘circle’, ‘cavity of the eye’ (orbita)
  • ORB; ORB-it; ORB-icul-ate, nearly circular in outline (applies to leaves); ORBITO-MAL-ar, pertaining to orbit and malar bones

PALPEBR-

  • ‘eyelid’ (palpebra)
  • PALPEBRA, either of the two movable folds that protect the eyeball; PALPEBR-ate, furnished with eyelids, or to wink

PEL(L)-, PULS-

  • ‘to push’, ‘to drive’, ‘to beat’
  • re-PEL; ex-PULS-ion; PULS-at-ile, pulsating, throbbing; PULS-ellum, a flagellum situated at the posterior end of the protozoan body

PLUR-

  • ‘more’, ‘many’ (plus)
  • PLUR-al-ity; PLURI-VOR-ous, living upon several hosts, as fungus; PLURI-LOC-ul-ar, having more than one compartment or loculus

SCAND- (-SCEND-), SCANS-

  • ‘to climb’
  • a-SCEND; de-SCEND; SCANS-or-ius, the small, anterior gluteal muscle; SCANS-ores an order of birds having two toes before and two behind, such as parrots

SCOP-

  • ‘broom’, ‘brush’ (scopa)
  • SCOP-ate, having a tuft of hair like a brush; SCOP-arius, a species of shrub commonly called broom-tops

SOLV-, SOLUT-

  • ‘to loosen’, ‘to dissolve’
  • SOLUTE, the dissolved substance in a SOLUT-ion; ab-SOL-ute, free from admixture

STRI-

  • ‘furrow’, ‘groove’, (stria)
  • STRIA, a streak or a line, a narrow, band-like structure; STRI-at-ure, striation, state of being striated, or the arrangement of striae

TEND-, TENS-, TENT-

  • ‘to stretch’; TENDIN-, ‘tendon’ (tendo)
  • TENS-ion, the act of the stretching, the state of being stretched or strained; dis-TENS-ion, a state of dilation; TENS-or, a muscle that serves to make a part tense

VELL-, VULS-

  • ‘to tear’
  • a-VULS-ion, the forcible tearing or wrenching away of a part, as a polyp or a limb; re-VULS-ion, the drawing, by irritation, of blood from a distant part of the body

Roots, Part II

ALVEOL-

  • ‘cavity’, ‘hollow’ (alveolus)
  • ALVEOL-ar, relating to an alveolus; ALVEOL-us, a small cavity, pit, or hollow, in particular: any of the many tiny air sacs of the lungs which allow for rapid gaseous exchange; the bony socket for the root of a tooth; an acinus (sac-like cavity) in a gland; ALVEOL-ation, the formation of alveoli

ATRI-

  • ‘entrance hall’, ‘room’ (atrium)
  • ATRI-um, each of the two upper cavities of the heart from which blood is passed to the ventricles; ATRIO-VENTR-icular, relating to the atrial and ventricular chambers of the heart, or the connection or coordination between them

AX-

  • ‘axis’ (axis)
  • AX-ial, relating to or forming an axis; AB-AX-ial, facing away from the stem of a plant (in particular denoting the lower surface of a leaf); AD-AX-ial, facing towards the stem of a plant (in particular denoting the upper surface of a leaf); AXO-POD-ium, a pseudopodium with axial filament

BARB-

  • ‘beard’ (barba)
  • barber; BARB-ule, a minute filament projecting from the barb of a feather; BARB-ate, bearded; BARBI-cel, a small process on a feather barbule

BIL-

  • ‘bile’ (bilis)
  • BILI-ous, affected by or associated with nausea or vomiting; BILI-RUB-in, an orange-yellow pigment formed in the liver by the breakdown of haemoglobin and excreted in bile; BILI-VERD-in, a green pigment excreted in bile (the oxidized derivative of bilirubin); BILI-ary, relating to bile or the bile duct.

BRACT(E)-

  • ‘thin plate’ (bractea)
  • BRACT, a modified leaf or scale, typically small, with a flower or flower cluster in its axil; BRACTE-ate, having or bearing bracts; BRACTE-ole, a small bract, esp. one on a floral stem

BURS-

  • ‘bag’, ‘pouch’ (bursa)
  • bursary; bursar; disburse; reimburse; BURSA, a fluid-filled sac or sac-like cavity, especially one countering friction at a joint; BURS-itis, inflammation of a bursa, typically one in a shoulder joint; BURS-icle, a pouch-like receptacle

CLAV-

  • ‘club’ (clava)
  • CLAV-ate or CLAV-iform, club-shaped; thicker at the apex than the base; ob-CLAV-ate, club-shaped and attached at the thicker end

EGO-

  • ‘I’
  • egotism; egotistical; ALTER-EGO-ism, an altruistic feeling for only those who are in the same situation as oneself; EGO-mania, obsessive egotism or self-centredness; super-EGO, the part of a person’s mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting social standards learned from parents and teachers

ILE-

  • ‘ileum’ (ileum)
  • ILEUM, the third portion of the small intestine, between the jejunum and the caecum; ILE-ac, pertaining to the ileum; ILEO-COL-ic, pertaining to the ileum and the colon

ILI-

  • ‘flank, hip’ (ilium)
  • ILIO-CAUD-al, connecting the ilium and the tail (applies to the muscle); SACRO-ILI-ac, pertaining to the ilium and sacrum

LENT-

  • ‘lentil’, ‘lens’ (lens)
  • LENT-ic-el, one of many raised pores in the stem of a woody plant that allows gas exchange between the atmosphere and the internal tissues; lenticular, shaped like a lentil, especially by being biconvex; relating to the lens of the eye; LENTI-GER-ous, furnished with a lens

PILE-

  • ‘felt cap’ (pileus)
  • PILEUS, (in botany) the cap of a mushroom or toadstool; (in anatomy) one of the cerebellar hemispheres; the membrane which sometimes covers a child’s head at birth; PILE-ated, crested (e.g. pileated woodpecker)

SPIC-

  • ‘point’, ‘spike’ (spica)
  • SPIC-ule or SPIC-ula, a small, spike-shaped bone; a needle-like body; SPIC-ate, spiked; SPIC-ulum, the dart of a snail

UNC-, UNCIN-

  • ‘hook’ (uncus; uncinus)
  • ad-UNC-ate, crooked; bent in the form of a hook; UNCI-form, shaped like a hook or barb; UNCI-FER-ous, bearing hooks or hook-like processes; UNCIN-ula, a genus of mildew with hooked appendages

Roots, Part III

CAN-

  • ‘white’, ‘grey’ (canus); CAND-, ‘to be glowing white’
  • candid; candidate; candour; in-CAND-esc-ent, emitting light as a result of being heated; CAN-ities, greyness or whiteness of the hair

CLAV-

  • ‘key’, ‘collarbone’ (clavis)
  • enclave; exclave; clavichord; CLAV-icle, the collarbone; sub-CLAV-ian, under the clavicle; CLAVIC-ular, pertaining to the clavicle

CLIN-

  • ‘to slope’, ‘to lean’ (KLIN- in Greek)
  • incline; decline; CLINO-CEPHA-ly, congenital flatness or concavity of the vertex of the head; syn-CLINE, a trough or fold of stratified rock in which the strata slope upwards from the axis

CREN-

  • ‘notch’ (crena)
  • CREN-ate, having a round-toothed or scalloped edge (especially of a leaf or shell); CREN-ul-ate, having a finely scalloped or notched outline or edge (especially of a leaf, shell, or shoreline)

FAV-

  • ‘honeycomb’ (favus)
  • FAV-ella, a conceptacle of certain red algae; FAV-eol-ate, honeycombed or alveolate; FAVUS, a distinctive type of tinea capitis characterized by the formation of honeycomb-like mats

FRONT-

  • ‘forehead’, ‘front’ (frons)
  • FRONS (pl. frontes), the forehead or equivalent part of an animal, especially the middle part of an insect’s face between the eyes and above the clypeus; FRONT-al, relating to the forehead or front part of the skull; FRONT-al BONE, the bone which forms the front part of the skull and the upper part of the eye sockets; FRONT-ad, toward the frontal aspect; FRONTO-NAS-al, pertaining to the frontal sinus and the nose

FRUCTIC-

  • ‘shrub’ (frutex)
  • FRUTEX, a shrub; FRUTIC-ose, (of a lichen) having upright or pendulous branches; FRUT-esc-ent, shrublike

INGUIN-

  • ‘groin’ (inguen)
  • INGUIN-al, of the groin; ex-INGUIN-al, occurring outside the groin; INGUINO-DYN-ia, pain in the groin

LAN-

  • ‘wool’ (lana)
  • LAN-OL-in, a fatty substance found naturally on sheep’s wool; LAN-UGO, fine, soft hair, especially that which covers the body and limbs of a human fetus; LAN-UG-inous, covered with down

LOB-

  • ‘lobe’ (lobus)
  • LOBO-tomy, a surgical operation involving incision into the prefrontal lobe of the brain, formerly used to treat mental illness; LOB-ule, a small lobe; LOB-ular, pertaining to a lobule

LUMB-

  • ‘loin’ (lumbus)
  • LUMB-ar, relating to the lower part of the back; LUMB-ago, pain in the muscles and joints of the lower back

NUD-

  • ‘naked’ (nudus)
  • NUDI-BRANCHI-ate, having gills not covered by a protective shell or membrane; NUDI-CAUD-ate, having a tail not covered by hair or fur

PAR-

  • ‘equal’ (par)
  • PAR-ity, the state or condition of being equal; PARI-VINC-ular, applies to the bivalve hinge ligament attached to nymphae; PARI-PINN-ate, pinnate without a terminal leaflet; dis-PAR-ate, not situated alike

TEMPOR-

  • ‘the temples’ (tempora, pl.)
  • TEMPOR-al, (in anatomy) of or situated in the temples of the head; infra-TEMPOR-al, below the temporal fossa; PARIETO-TEMPOR-al, pertaining to the parietal and temporal bones or lobes; TEMPOR-al BONE, either of a pair of bones which form part of the side of the skull on each side and enclose the middle and inner ear; TEMPOR-al-is, a fan-shaped muscle which runs from the side of the skull to the back of the lower jaw and is involved in closing the mouth and chewing

VITELL-

  • ‘yolk of an egg’ (vitellus)
  • VITELLUS, the yolk of an egg or ovum; VITELL-in, the chief protein constituent of egg yolk; VITELL-ine, relating to the yolk (or yolk sac) of an egg or embryo, or to yolk-producing organs; VITELL-ine MEMBRANE, a transparent membrane surrounding and secreted by the fertilized ovum, preventing the entry of further spermatozoa; VITELLO-GEN-in, a protein present in the blood, from which the substance of egg yolk is derived