Philology/ 6. Actual problems of translation

Ph.D., Associate Professor S. V. Shvetsova

Irkutsk State Academy of Agriculture, Russia

Eponyms in medicine

In the field of professional communication and translation of special medical literature, we are faced with the problem of the correct interpretation of terms containing proper names in the structure of terminological word-combinations. Eponyms are ambiguous, often create confusion and complicate the process of communication in the context of globalization. Therefore it is necessary to regard such terms as eponyms with special attention in translation. This is especially true when translating medical texts.

Eponyms in medicine are very popular with both practical doctors and students studying medicine.

Proper names in scientific terminology is a very common phenomenon in various branches of knowledge. They constitute a special group of terms, the so-called eponyms. Eponym – one who gives his name to objects - comes from the Greek onoma - name ". Even the word "term" is an eponym, since it was formed from the Latin Terminus - the name of god, who was the guardian of boundaries. Eponym - the name of the phenomenon (e.g., illness, concept, structure, method or device etc.) which was nominated by person's name, which first discovered or described that phenomenon or developed a method. For example: Aran-Duchenne disease, Schiötz tonometer , Tenon capsule, islet of Langerhans, McReynolds method etc.

Today it is hard to imagine studying the evolution of diagnosis, history and development of medicine without knowledge of clinical terminological eponyms. Study of eponyms contributes to the understanding of the terms evolution in clinical disciplines, as well as the formation of terminological competence of junior doctors and to mastering of the language of their specialty. The undoubted positive quality of a large number of terms-eponyms is their international character, i.e. identical form and meaning in different languages.

What terms - eponym do exist in medicine?

- anthroponyms

- toponyms

I . Anthroponyms. A number of medical terms have the names of writers, poets, artists, philosophers, and the names of scientists, captured in terms they created or named in memory of them by other scholars from different countries and nationalities, who discovered a particular disease, have developed a new method of diagnosis, treatment or research, or created a particular instrument. For example: Van Gogh syndrome is named after the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), who suffered from mental illness, and during one of his attacks of illness made his ear amputation. There is a self-portrait after the injury. Syndrome Van Gotha - psychopathological symptom: patients with an imaginary illness and without any motivation operate themselves or persistently demand that the doctors should perform various operations on them. This syndrome is frequently observed in schizophrenia.

Anthroponyms are met:

1. Among the names of diseases, syndromes and symptoms: Albright syndrome; Fuchs–Kraup syndrome; Behr disease; Crouzon disease; Ewing symptom; Wernicke symptom etc.

2. Among the names of research methods and operations: Сomberg method –method of radiographic localization used for the diagnosis of foreign bodies inside the eye; McReynolds method – method of removing a large pterygium; Graefe operation – operstion developed by Dr. Graefe.

3. Among the anatomical terms. Anatomical nomenclature of terms - one of the most standardized in the world, as it was discussed several times at international symposiums. In 1955, the names of authors in anatomical terminology were abolished. However, despite this, in the medical literature for the nomination of anatomical organs or regions of the body we still often use the terms-eponyms. For example: Tenon capsule - J.R. Tenon, French anatomist and surgeon who first described the vagina of the eyeball; Cowper’s gland – William Cowper (1666-1709), English surgeon who first described anteroprostatic gland; Langerhans’ islet - P. Langerhans, German scientist who described in 1869 a group of cells in the pancreas of man.

4. Among the names of instruments and equipment: Graefe knife, Danberg forceps, McReynolds spatula. The number of eponyms in this group is high by frequent recurrence of surname of one and the same developer of instruments.

The emergence of eponyms is associated with the memorial function. Often, this process is due to ambiguities in the concepts of a particular category of medical knowledge. Scientists can not always classify a particular syndrome or symptom, and refer it to a particular nosologic form. In this case, it is preferable to leave a term "neutral", in other words to give the syndrome a name of the investigator who first described until the etiology of disease pathogenesis will be clear, which let us get better understanding to what class it should be referred.

The study of the origin of some of the eponym suggests that the eponyms are not always recorded the names of the discoverers of a phenomenon. Often terms contain the names of scientists, who did not open but described in details previously opened phenomena. One can not but agree with the opinion that further study of any phenomenon, virtually confirming the previously predicted data may sometimes have greater significance than the fact of the discovery of a phenomenon. For example, Hippel-Lindau disease (clinical synonym - retino-cerebrovisceral angiomatosis) was described by Ph. Panac in 1879 and A. Remy in 1892 but more detailed description was made in 1895, 1903 and 1904 by German doctor Hippel. Following the classic studies of Swedish pathologist Lindau in 1926-1927, who proved that this pathology is a systemic diseases, the disease was named after Hippel-Lindau disease. Another good example is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Dr. Creutzfeldt first described the progressive dystrophic diseases of the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia and spinal cord in 1920. A year later, in 1921, Dr. Jacob added some details into the description of the disease. He proved that this pathology also has a combination of mental disorders and damage to the nervous system. Dr. Spielmeyer suggested calling the disease by the name of the authors who first described it. Thus the eponym Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was born.

As we can see, there is a desire to perpetuate names of all researchers of any phenomenon in a term, as often the fact of priority of one of the researchers remains unproven or controversial. However, it should be noted that the terms including the names of several scientists are not suitable for communication, as they do not meet the requirements to be short and comfortable for pronunciation.

Despite all these inconveniences, medical eponyms will continue to be used because there is a sense of history to their use.

In addition to the structure of anthroponims eponym terms there are toponyms (place names) that are included in terminological combinations.

II. Toponyms. For example: American leishmaniasis - this disease is named for the place of its distribution, i.e. in the highland valleys of the Andes in Peru and Bolivia (South America). Egyptian ophthalmia - one of the oldest diseases on earth. The first mention of it relates to the 60-th years BC in Greece, Japan and China. In Europe, the first cases of this disease were marked after the campaign of Napoleon in Egypt in 1798, where an outbreak of trachoma happened in his 35-strong army. It got the name of Egyptian ophthalmia.

As research has shown, most of eponyms have terminological synonyms - the names of certain diseases, symptoms and effects for respective characteristic features. And it is natural, since the eponym does not satisfy any of the requirements for the terms: they are not systematized; do not express the essence of the phenomena. Sometimes, however, such terms shall have the greater frequency of use in connection with the fact that they are shorter than systematizing and descriptive terms. For example, Stargardt disease - is synonymous with the term juvenile macular degeneration; Jensen disease - or its synonym retinochoroiditis juxtapapillaris; Mibelli disease has a synonym keratoatrophic nevus.

Along with terminological synonyms eponym synonyms are present in medical terminology. For example, Reiter syndrome - a synonym of Fiessinger-Leroy - syndrome. Dr. H. Reiter, a German doctor who first described this syndrome in 1916, and Dr N.A. Fiessinger and Dr E.A. Leroy in France at that time described it in the military people during epidemic outbreaks of intestinal infections. Since these scientists worked independently of each other and often had no information on studies conducted in other countries, this may explain the existence of eponyms - synonyms.

Analysis of terms-eponyms and their terminological synonyms showed that the use of professional terms complicates the communication process, and it allows predicting the increasing frequency of use of eponyms in modern medical terminology.

Medicine, like no other area of human knowledge, is rich with eponym terms. This is a reflection of longstanding tradition (since the time of Hippocrates) on the one hand, and a tribute to the outstanding scientists on the other.

References:

1. Bogatireva V.V. Features of English eponym terms in the sociolinguistic light / V.V. Bogatireva // Towards a culture of peace through dialogue among religions, dialogue among civilizations: Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference: Tomsk: OSU, 2000. Vol.3. – P. 8-11.

2. Kazarina S.G. Eponym terms: advantages and disadvantages / S.G. Kazarina // Scientific and Technical Terminology Scientific and Technical refereed book. – M.:Prosveschenie, 1998. – P. 33–42.

3. Bowker L. Multidimensional classification of concepts and terms / L. Bowker// Handbook of terminology management/ John Benjamins Publ. Co.: Amsterdam – Philadelphia, 1997. – Vol. 1. Basic aspects of terminology. – P. 133–143.