DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
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DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
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Latin language has been the common language for communication between doctors for ages. In my country of origing it was and still is a mandatory part of the Medical Degree. In contrary
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Forums » Open clinical » General clinical » DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
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Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
posted at 24/7/2012 2:47 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2952
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 25/5/2013 |
They are not Latin and they are not really prefixes. They are part of compound nouns although nouns in their own right. Prefixes are not usually nouns but little sound bytes which describe direction, place, time etc eg submarine. |
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Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
posted at 24/7/2012 10:27 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 164
First: 31/5/2012 Last: 8/10/2012 |
In Response to Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?: Things happened during the decades that made even the use of Latin terminology pronounced in a way you wonder some time what on Earth people mean. English speaking countries have done their "duties" in turning some words and expressions into "how you pronounce it American sounding". We no longer speak about hepar, but liver, nobody speaks of glandula thyroidea, but thyroid and even that with an English pronunciation as to completely distort the word. Not to speak about leucocytes, erythrocytes, pneumonia (should be pronounced exacly as letters written, not by distortion and swallowing of the P letter...). Examples are endless. Try to present at a conference using the correct pronunciation and you will be looked upon as an antique anachronism. Posted by yoram chaiter Yoram, once again - thank you for your post. This was and is the core of my discussiaon, which I started - yet - the majority of the respondents tend to move from the topic and divert it in a compltely different directions, running in the bush. Europe or NON-Europe - Latin language is the fundamental language for the Medical science. Instead of "anglisising" medical "terminology"- our doctor's duty is to make use of Latin and to make sure Latin remains as the only tool of communication between clinicians. I too amd frustrated about the way how anglosaxons abuse this tool (examples - most of the respondents above) |
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Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
posted at 24/7/2012 1:39 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2060
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 24/5/2013 |
Doctors have not spoken Latin for a hundred years or more; as a communication tool is is defunct, gone to meet its maker, pushing up the daisies, etc. Your wish to have Latin as a Lingua Franca (there you go!) between the global medical faculty is a fantasy. I fear you misconstrue (!) Yoram, who was saying that the way the words are said now is the way they are said. To try and mangle them back again to some theoretical Forum-speak is futile, because you would loose understanding, not gain it. The horse you flog isn't just dead, it has been dismembered, eaten and digested, and is now part of other horses. You can't put it back together again. John |
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Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
posted at 24/7/2012 4:45 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 164
First: 31/5/2012 Last: 8/10/2012 |
In Response to Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?: Doctors have not spoken Latin for a hundred years or more; as a communication tool is is defunct, gone to meet its maker, pushing up the daisies, etc. Your wish to have Latin as a Lingua Franca (there you go!) between the global medical faculty is a fantasy. I fear you misconstrue (!) Yoram, who was saying that the way the words are said now is the way they are said. To try and mangle them back again to some theoretical Forum-speak is futile, because you would loose understanding, not gain it. The horse you flog isn't just dead, it has been dismembered, eaten and digested, and is now part of other horses. You can't put it back together again. John Posted by John D Dear JohnD, your sense of humor is a small breeze in the heat of my discussion. You are wrong. My hourses are neither dead, nor eaten&digested. Latin language is used, must be used and will be used regardless what you say. The problem with the anglosaxons is that - yet - again they try) to) bury things they dislike, like ostriches - their heads in the desert's sand. Hence anglosaxons do not represent the entire medical sociaty. Many thanks. Enjoy the summer |
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Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
posted at 24/7/2012 7:07 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1790
First: 7/3/2009 Last: 24/5/2013 |
In Response to Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?: In Response to Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why? : Dear JohnD, your sense of humor is a small breeze in the heat of my discussion. You are wrong. My hourses are neither dead, nor eaten°ested. Latin language is used, must be used and will be used regardless what you say. The problem with the anglosaxons is that - yet - again they try) to) bury things they dislike, like ostriches - their heads in the desert's sand. Hence anglosaxons do not represent the entire medical sociaty. Many thanks. Enjoy the summer Posted by drmk Well, that's it. John stays with his opinions and that is how he looks at the subject.We are not in agreement with him. |
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Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
posted at 25/7/2012 3:44 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2952
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 25/5/2013 |
It is a pity that the teaching of Latin is so fixed on the written form with little attempt to speak it. After all it is a language. It takes no more brains to speak Latin than English or German. This is due to teachers being "stuck" . Just because it is inflected does not mean it is difficult. Indeed this makes it easier. It is only when doctors learn to talk Latin that it will resume its role as a spoken means of communication between learned men and women as in the Age of the Enlightenment and before. Newton wrote in Latin and science was spoken in Latin then. Latin teachers are the problem. Greek is inflected and so are most European languages. So what? Doctors are not longer very well educated in a broad sense. We are streamed too early. We will use Latin and Greek only as word roots and Latin will never spoken between us unless something happens in education. I have in the past raised the possibility of establishing an interest group on this site for those who lean towards the Classics. I am sure there is much that could be shared; even an epigram or an odd maxim. |
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Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
posted at 25/7/2012 9:40 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 164
First: 31/5/2012 Last: 8/10/2012 |
In Response to Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why? : Well, that's it () stays with his opinions and that is how he looks at the subject.We are not in agreement with him. Posted by yoram chaiter Quite right - we are not in agreement with those who still think that Latin "has not been used for 200 years" . What a joke! |
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Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
posted at 29/7/2012 8:56 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2
First: 21/6/2012 Last: 29/7/2012 |
In Response to Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?: I did Latin at school, to O-level standard. I resented and hated having to learn a Language that even my teachers admitted was spoken only by certain religionists. The literary marvels that it was said to posses were in my experinece limited to borirng and inaccurate accounts of military campaigns. I mean, "Gallia in tres partes divisa est"! Not any more, Julius, not any more. It may be argued that I benefitted in my medical studies, but really, was I able to pronounce, "Levator labii superior et aliquae nasi" any easier for having spent months struggling through "Fabulae Faciles" with its dumbed down acounts of Roman and Greek Myths? THat it is the muscle that lets you snarl gives you my answer. I have met people who are good at langauges, whi I envy. They coo, "Oh, yes! Latin is so useful! It gives you the entry into so many European languages! Surely you find that too?" Well, I speak some bad French, used to be able to say something in Polish and Swedish, and have always learnt to say hello, how are you in the language of any country I visit, but I have to LEARN them! No Roman god took me by the hand and lubricated my tongue with the golden olive oil of Latin! Stuff Latin! Dead, gone, can't even count in it properly. This langauge is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! Etc.Etc. It's not even pining for the Fjorum. John Posted by John D I absolutely agree! |
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Re: DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why?
posted at 29/7/2012 10:30 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2952
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 25/5/2013 |
We had unimaginative teachers who gravitated to Latin like they gravitated to shorts, sandals and white socks. They could have made it so much fun. Although I did well, it was an exercise in word taxonomy like dissecting the mouthparts of a cockroach in zoology. Virgil was done line by tedious line, word by word, parse and analyse as we are in search of the Holy Grail. If they taught English or French like this.... |
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