80070226

open access

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ギリシャ シンワ ユライ ノ イガク エイゴ ニツイテ

Medical English Terms Derived from Greek Myths

Japanese (日本語)

神戸大学医療技術短期大学部紀要

9

1-17

神戸大学医療技術短期大学部

1993

2007-11-21

It must be both painstaking and boring for the students of medicine and allied medical sciences to memorize thousands of medical terms one by one in the limited schedule. The teaching of those technical terms is also painstaking and boring on the part of the instructors. If some interesting episodes on medical terms such as Adam's apple and Achilles' tendon are in-troduced in the course of their teaching, it would give a kind of relaxation and stimulation to their learners. Fortunately some dozens of medical terms derived from Greek myths have such interesting episodes filled with gods, semi-gods, heroes, and nymphs. They are all described very vividly as supernatural beings with human feelings. This paper deals with 19 medical English terms derived from Greek myths, classifying them into three categories, i.e., anatomical, pathological, and psychiatric or psycho-analytical fields. The authors also try to describe their historical backgrounds and relieve their general characteristics.

紀要論文