Medical dictionary
{{Short description|Specialized dictionary covering medicine terms}}
{{For|this functionality on Wikipedia|Glossary of medicine}}
File:A medical dictionary for nurses (1914).jpg
A medical dictionary is a lexicon for words used in medicine. The four major medical dictionaries in the United States are Mosby's Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing & Health Professions, Stedman's, Taber's, and Dorland's. Other significant medical dictionaries are distributed by Elsevier. Dictionaries often have multiple versions, with content adapted for different user groups. For example Stedman's Concise Medical Dictionary and Dorland's are for general use and allied health care, while the full text editions are reference works used by medical students, doctors, and health professionals. Medical dictionaries are commonly available in print, online, or as downloadable software packages for personal computers and smartphones.
History
File:James's medical dictionary, explanation of the tables Wellcome L0022702.jpg
File:Appleton's medical dictionary (1916) (14761505181).jpg
The earliest known glossaries of medical terms were discovered on Egyptian papyrus authored around 1600 B.C.{{Cite book|last=Sigerist|first=HE|title=A History of Medicine. I. Primitive and Archaic Medicine|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1950|location=New York|pages=298-318}} Other precursors to modern medical dictionaries include lists of terms compiled from the Hippocratic Corpus in the first century AD.{{Cite journal|last=Craik|first=Elizabeth|date=2017|title=The Lexicographer Erotian as a Guide to the Hippocratic Corpus|url=https://www.clsoc.jp/JASCA/jasca_2017.html|journal=JASCA (Japan Studies in Classical Antiquity)|volume=3|pages=3-16}}{{Cite journal|last=Ambrose|first=Charles|date=2005-04-01|title=A Short History of Medical Dictionaries|url=https://uknowledge.uky.edu/microbio_facpub/35|journal=The Pharos of Alpha Omega Alpha-Honor Medical Society|volume=68|issue=2|pages=24–27}}
The Synonyma Simonis Genuensis (the Synonyms of Simon of Genoa), attributed to the physician to Pope Nicholas IV in the year 1288, was printed by Antonius Zarotus at Milan in 1473. Referring to a copy held in the library
of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Henry wrote in 1905 that "It is the first edition of the first medical dictionary."{{cite journal |journal=Med Library Hist J. |date=January 1905 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=27–40 |title=A Review of the First Book on the Diseases of the Eye, by Benvenutus Grassus, 1474: Exhibition of Three Other Fifteenth Century Monographs (a) The First Medical Dictionary, Synonyma Simonis Genuensis, 1473; (b) The First Book on Diet, By Isaac, 1487, (c) The Second Edition of The First Book on Diseases of Children, By Paulus Bagellardus, 1487. |author=Henry FP |pmid=18340862 |pmc=1692319}} However, this claim is disputed as the composition only included lists of herbs and drugs. By the time of Antonio Guaineri (died in 1440Luke DeMaitre {{google books|ZfpeAQAAQBAJ|Medieval Medicine: The Art of Healing, from Head to Toe (2013)|page=208}}) and Savonarola, this work was used alongside others by Oribasius, Isidore of Seville, Mondino dei Liuzzi, Serapion, and Pietro d'Abano. Then, as now, writers struggled with the terminology used in various translations from earlier Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic works. Later works by Jacques Desparts and Jacopo Berengario da Carpi continued building on the Synonyma.{{cite journal |journal=Osiris |author=Danielle Jacquart |title=Theory, everyday practice, and three fifteenth-century physicians |volume=6 |year=1990 |pages=140–160 |jstor=301784 |doi=10.1086/368698}}{{cite book |title=Summula per alphabetum super plurimis remediis et ipsius |language=Latin |author=Jacobi Partibus |author-link=Jacobi Partibus |year=1500 |url=http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb37229239v }}
Definitions
In medical dictionaries, definitions should to the greatest extent possible be:
- Simple and easy to understand,{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1542/peds.102.1.137 | last1 = McPherson | first1 = M. | last2 = Arango | first2 = P. | last3 = Fox | first3 = H. | last4 = Lauver | first4 = C. | last5 = McManus | first5 = M. | last6 = Newacheck | first6 = P. W. | last7 = Perrin | first7 = J. M. | last8 = Shonkoff | first8 = J. P. | last9 = Strickland | first9 = B. | title = A new definition of children with special health care needs | journal = Pediatrics | volume = 102 | issue = 1 Pt 1 | pages = 137–140 | year = 1998 | pmid = 9714637}} preferably even by the general public{{cite journal | last1 = Morse | first1 = R. M. | last2 = Flavin | first2 = D. K. | year = 1992 | title = The Definition of Alcoholism | journal = JAMA | volume = 268 | pmid = 1501306 | issue = 8 | pages = 1012–1014 | doi = 10.1001/jama.1992.03490080086030 }}
- Useful clinically or in related areas where the definition will be used.
- Specific, that is, by reading the definition only, it should ideally not be possible to refer to any other entity than the one being defined.
- Measurable
- Reflecting current scientific knowledge
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://curlie.org/Reference/Dictionaries/By_Subject/Medicine/ Directory of Medical Dictionaries on Curlie]
- [https://openmd.com/dictionary/medical-dictionaries Directory of Medical Dictionaries on OpenMD]
- [https://www.merriam-webster.com/medical Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary]
- [https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ TheFreeDictionary: Medical Dictionary]
- [https://play.google.com/store/search?q=medical%20dictionary&c=apps Android Medical Dictionaries on Google Play]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20210429203119/https://search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?media=software&term=medical+dictionary iOS Medical Dictionaries on Apple App Store]
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