Every organ in the human body has a name. Everyone knows this, but few, except doctors, are aware that any dimple, hump, notch or groove is also endowed with "nicknames." At the beginning of its journey, anatomy was a descriptive science from the cycle of “what I see, then I sing,” therefore doctors called every component that came to hand a new name.
Historically, the language chosen for communication in a professional medical environment has become Latin. Why this happened - no need to explain, but why it lasted so long in the scientific world - a mystery even for "advanced users" of the medical environment. Probably out of habit.
Definition
Nomenclature is a derivative of the Latin word meaning “list”. In fact, this is a set of terms, names and basic concepts that are used in any branch of knowledge. In order to compile it correctly, you must use the classification system.
The anatomical nomenclature is a system of terms in the Latin language that designate parts of the body, organs or their fragments. They distinguish the national nomenclature, which, as a rule, is compiled in the national language, in our case, Russian, and international, decorated in Latin.
The emergence of anatomical nomenclature
The anatomical nomenclature appeared as a result of the accumulation of human knowledge about his own body. At some point, a need arose to systematize all the information available at that time. And although the nomenclature was compiled in Latin, it has many terms that have Greek and Arabic roots. This is due to the development of medicine in the East.
The very first definitions appeared about five thousand years ago in ancient Greece. They arose sporadically and depended only on the imagination and observation of the anatomist. At that time, doctors knew about seven hundred names. When the Romans conquered Greece and turned this entire territory into an empire, they adopted culture and scientific achievements, supplementing the code with their own terms in Latin.
The main pool of these concepts, as well as their primary classification, was proposed by the anatomist and physician Claudius Gallen. In connection with the spread of terms in Central and Northern Europe, new word forms, hybrids and barbarisms appeared, which reflected the linguistic features of this area. The growing number of synonyms among anatomical names created chaos and caused errors.
Nomenclature development in the 19th century
The anatomical nomenclature developed randomly until the genius artist Leonardo da Vinci appeared in Florence in the 15th century. He made an attempt to systematize the names of the muscles of the human body, using their function as a classification. A little later, after the death of da Vinci, Vesalius tried to contribute to the streamlining of the nomenclature and removed Arabic definitions from it, and also translated all foreign words into classical Latin.
Despite all this, by the end of the eighteenth century there were more than thirty thousand names. Of course, their number needed to be reduced. Henle and Owen made changes to the terminology, and introduced concepts such as planes and axes. As a result, a special commission was created in Germany, which at the end of the nineteenth century constituted an acceptable, in their opinion, list of terms. It received the corresponding name - the Basel Anatomical Nomenclature.
Key Terms
International anatomical nomenclature is based on a relatively small group of words that are most often used. Such nouns include: a hole, channel, crest, process, groove, surface, lobe, margin, and the like. They are needed to describe the appearance of an organ or structure. Adjectives such as large, small, oval, round, narrow, wide, square, etc. are combined with the words presented. They help to better represent the anatomical formation.
To describe the situation, use the following words:
- lateral (located farther from the middle);
- medial (closer to the middle);
- cranial (closer to the head);
- caudal (closer to the bottom);
- proximal (closer to the center);
- distal (to the periphery).
Of course, there are many terms that you just need to learn, because you can not logically substantiate why they are called that way, and not otherwise.
Axes and planes
In August 1997, the final to date anatomical nomenclature was approved. The axes and planes that describe the position of the organs, we decided to use the same as in a rectangular coordinate system.
Three body axes are distinguished:
- vertical
- sagittal;
- horizontal.
They are perpendicular to each other. The vertical axis passes through the human body and divides it into the front and back. The sagittal has an anteroposterior direction and divides the body into right and left sides. Horizontal is parallel to the support plane. Several sagittal and transverse axes can be drawn, and only one vertical.
Paris and Basel anatomical nomenclature
The Paris anatomical nomenclature is the current international document. Adopted in the mid-twentieth century at the Sixth International Congress of Anatomists. It was developed on the basis of the previous nomenclature. The document is taken as a basis in compiling domestic terminology.
Earlier, in 1895, at the meeting of the German Anatomical Society in Basel, the first nomenclature was adopted, which received international recognition. It was based on terms that indicated the direction along the axes and planes.
Russian anatomical nomenclature
How were things in Russia? The anatomical nomenclature of man in our country began to form in the middle of the eighteenth century. It was at that moment that medical publications in Russian began to appear in the country. Such outstanding anatomists as Zybelin, Ambodik - Maximovich, Zagorsky and others contribute to the development of terminology. A special merit in popularizing the international nomenclature belongs to Shein, who translated the German edition into his native language.
This made it possible to introduce many Russian terms into everyday medical practice. They differed from Latin in that they were more understandable and logical. And besides, knowledge of Latin was not required to understand the basics of anatomy. A significant place in the popularization of the nomenclature was played by the Dictionary of Anatomical Terms, published in 1928.
During the Soviet Union, the anatomical nomenclature was approved in 1949 at the All-Union Congress of Anatomists. And in 1956, the Paris nomenclature was also adopted.
Eponyms and atavisms
Latin is a dead language, therefore anachronisms and atavisms are found in it. The anatomical nomenclature was no exception. Its basic terms can be created using combinations of nouns with adjectives, as well as changes in these constructions by cases. The total number of terms is about seven thousand. Some of them are found once, for example, “torn hole”, “keel”, “filter”. But these are only flowers. Remembering the names of the organs or their components is only half the battle, you need to understand how they are located relative to each other and what function they perform. This is not written in nomenclature directories.
Despite the fact that the terminology is regularly reviewed, and unnecessary constructions are removed from it, nevertheless sometimes there are wonderful combinations that can mislead an uninitiated person. Examples include the “muscle of the proud”, the vagus nerve, the Turkish saddle, and others.
Print media
Anatomical nomenclature, as a rule, is published in the form of a book or booklet, which contains terms in several languages. Usually it is Latin and a national language, for example Russian. Classical international terms are written on the left, and duplicated in another language on the right. In addition, a list of general terms and their abbreviations is provided at the beginning of the book to make it easier to navigate.
All words and phrases are arranged in groups reflecting their hierarchical position. First there are organ systems, then thematic subgroups are placed inside each system, and then the terms for each entity are broken down. This hierarchy can be shown by font changes, numeric or letter ciphers, as well as a change in the position of the term in the string.
There are editions of the anatomical nomenclature, which simultaneously reflect the terms in three or more languages. Combinations can be very different, but the Latin language is always present, and the rest remains to the taste of the compiler, the needs of the market are also taken into account. If these are European countries, then English, French and German are predominant. In Asian countries - Chinese or Japanese.