Abstract:
Many modern anatomical terms are descended from Greek and Latin, but books on the history of medicine and its terminology are often inaccurate when dealing with the ancient material. The only way to detect and correct these inaccuracies is to examine the ancient medical texts afresh in their original language and to read them with a mind unprejudiced by modern anatomical knowledge and modern preconceived ideas. This thesis applies this technique to a number of Greek and Latin words for various parts of the head, shoulder and upper arm, ranging from common terms such as manus = 'hand' to highly specialised ones such as korone for a certain type of bony process. The meaning and usage of each in the ancient works is examined by considering testimonia from a wide variety of Greek and Latin authors in the period from Homer to Galen (with an occasional excursus to later authors); each testimonium is accompanied by an English translation and a detailed commentary. The testimonia illustrate various methods by which the parts of the body under consideration gained their ancient names, and these methods are brought together and examined in a concluding essay. The commentaries on the testimonia reveal three areas of inadequacy in the modern study of ancient medical writings, and the concluding essay also brings these together and comments upon them.