Greek and Latin in Scientific English

Greek language
o modern day: just a small portion (Greece)
o ancient times: much bigger (modern Italy, Turkey, Middle East, etc.)
o Mycenaean civilization (c. 1400 - 1100 BC)
spoke Proto-Greek (early Greek, has many hallmarks of what would become Greek)
Linear B
syllabary: everything was in syllables rather than discrete letters; similar to
Japanese
logograms: specific characters stand for a meaning of something (e.g. man, horse)
o "Dark Age" (c. 1100 - 800 BC) = no surviving writing
o circa 800 BC = rise of individual Greek "city-states" (self-regulating, self-governing cities)
why is there no unified Greek-speaking world/have "city-states"?
travel was very difficult as the areas had many mountains and not very flat
each city state had own:
laws
calendars
coinage
system of government
but shared in common:
language (may have dialectal variations)
religion
cultural values
o period of colonization around Mediterranean (800 - 500 BC); city-states/population started to
become very crowded
as they colonized, they took the language with them
writing in classical Greek script appears circa 800 BC
Greek letters (one letter) become double letters in English
e.g. theta = "th," phi = "ph," chi = "ch," psi = "ps"; pronunciation retained in English
language
rho = "r" (graph), rh (rhythm)
kappa = "k" (hard c)
e.g. phak-, phac- = lens
Homer = poet who wrote The Iliad (Trojan war) and The Odyssey
o Classical Period (5th - 4th centuries BC)
cities battled with each other and start rebellions against the Persian Empire
Persian King eventually becomes impatient and took care of the cities and assimilate Athens
as well
has an immense army and navy to attack the Greeks
this event brings the Greeks (city-states) to come together and work with each other
they decide to hold off the army for the time being at Thermopylae
Spartans are too small to hold Persian army off and loses
Greeks send off their children and elderly to see and the men use small ships and
manage to beat the Persians as their large ships cannot maneuver in such a small area
Greeks are completely shocked to have beaten the Persians and their egos inflate
Flowering of Greek arts
architecture and sculpture
tragedy and comedy; plays
philosophy (Socrates - 5th BC, in the army that defeats the Persians + Plato - 5th BC, is
Socrates' student)
But things fall apart: Peloponnesian War (late 5th century BC)
Athens vs. Sparta; both sides tend to get exhausted as it was non-stop fighting
Macedonians took advantage of both sides' war and spotted an opportunity to take
over
leader was Phillip of Macedon
was the father of Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC)
carried same familial anger towards Persians that wanted to take over the
Greek world
extended his empire once he rose to power from Afghanistan all the way to
the edge of India (took their language and culture with them as they spread,
particularly in Egypt)
dies at a very young age and his subjects cannot hold together his empire
Hellenistic Kingdoms (Hellas = Greece)
o Hellenistic World (3rd century BC - 5th century AD)
Mathematics (e.g. Euclid)
Philosophy (including "natural history" = "science"; e.g. Aristotle [4th century BC])
Medical and biological studies, particularly anatomy
Latin language (less important than Greek)
o Latin alphabet = English alphabet (mostly; differs by 2 letters)
o Roman Republic: 5th - 1st century BC = "The Senate and People of Rome" (very unified, very
close to democracy)
o Expansion of Roman world (3rd -2nd centuries BC)
o Roman control by 44 BC; controlled much of North Africa and modern France and Spain;
conquered the Greeks and the Greek-speaking world
having democracy allows for people to fight back and worth; doesnt make it a very stable
empire
Caesar Augustus = winner of Roman civil wars (late 1st century BC)
First Roman emperor (of about 100 emperors over next 4 centuries)
o Roman Empire at height (mid-2nd century AD)
everywhere Romans go, they take Latin with them
linguistics divide in Roman empire (between Greece and Italy); bilingual country
mostly Latin-speaking West and mostly Greek-speaking East
Bilingualism in the Roman Empire
practiced in Greek: philosophy (including "science") and medicine
practiced in Latin: law, public administration
despite linguistic divide
o What happened to Greek and Latin languages at the end of the Roman Empire?
Latin = "romance language;" from the Romans (e.g. French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese,
Romanian)
in western Europe for next 1000+ years, Latin was language of:
academic writing
scientific nomenclature ("the naming of things")
Roman Catholic church
Greek develops in Modern Greek and Cyrillic alphabet (Slavic languages; e.g. Russian,
Ukrainian, Bulgarian)
in western Europe, Greek was the language of:
Christian New Testament
scientific terminology, particularly medicine and biology
Greek was first transliterated into Latin (e.g. Qak- [symbols] --> phac-)
Greek (and Latin) = 94% of all terminology in medicine and biology; more Greek than Latin
both historical and linguistic reasons
Historical reasons
o Greek was the first language of medicine and biology in the western tradition
o many Greek medical and scientific texts translated into Latin at a very early period (=accessible
to non-Greek readers)
Linguistic reasons
Ancient Greek (and Latin) are static languages
are dead languages, so they don't change; living languages change all the time (e.g. words
changing meaning)
no problems with communication; meanings are fixed so communication is more efficient and
easier
Greek (and Latin) forms fit easily into all modern European languages (and many other modern
languages [non-European])
Greek, in particular, lends itself to the formation of long but very precise terms

Part B. A (very brief) overview of Greek and Roman medicine
Important Figures
o Hippocrates
5th century BC Greek physician
"The Father of Medicine"
60+ medical texts in his name
many texts have his name, but could not have been written by Hippocrates
way of honoring the person
lived at the same time during Plate
did not write the Hippocratic Oath, written many years after his death
o Plato
contemporary with Hippocrates
not a physician, only a philosopher
interested in relationship between soul and body
influential work on the human soul and body: Timaeus
many things wrong but some things right
working strictly from theory, not from practice or experiments
o Aristotle
4th century BC philosopher-scientist
comparative anatomy
couldn't dissect human bodies (taboo) unless there were accidents/battles
dissected animals and drew conclusions from that (some are right, some are wrong;
animals' bodies aren't exactly like humans')
empirical investigations
systematic classification of natural world
different from Plato because he actually experimented while Plato only theorized
o Dioscorides
1st century AD, Greek
physician, pharmacologist
De materia medica ("On Medical Matters"); Latin translation (from original Greek)
o Soranus
2nd century AD Greek physician
many medical works
Most important: Gynaecia ("Medical Care of Women")
o Galen; most important
2nd century AD Greek physician
wrote hundreds of medical texts
important dissection work
human dissection is allowed in society
also dissected animals
immensely influential in the development of western medicine
o FAQ
"why are all these figures Greek? what about the Romans?"
o Celsus
1st century AD
De medicina ("On Medicine")
hypothesize that he is a doctor; not sure
o Pliny the Elder
1st century AD
The Natural History
includes a lot about medicinal qualities of plants and medical beliefs of people
work was used as a medical reference
o Greeks valued medicine and medical training while Romans usually kept it as a hobby/side thing
Romans mainly used folk medicine
when Romans took over Greek, they borrowed everything from Greek including Greek
medicine
took Greek slaves (usually doctors) to work for the Roman Empire; thats why Greek is
used in the medical language
very few Roman texts as a result
Romans were good at surgery but overall Greek was better in medicine
Medical Theories
o Pneumatic theory (pneuma = "breath, spirit")
needs a spirit/breath to move through the body freely without blockages
if there are blockages then there is disease and must be cured
o Corpuscular theory (corpuscle = "little body")
similar to pneumatic theory in terms of flow, but instead of spirit/breath, there are little
bodies that move through the body
pores in the body; some are open and some are closed
doctor's job to block pores or open pores to help with the flow
o Humoral Theory (humor = "liquid")
things that must be balanced in the human body
lasts until the 19th century
has an immense amount of influence
4 elements of the universe
all diagrams for Theory of Humours will be posted
fire, air, earth and water
share some characteristics (hot, dry, wet, cold)
fire = hot and dry, earth = dry and cold, water = wet and cold, air = hot and wet
how do you explain the human body using this theory (composition of the
universe)?
scientists explained elements existed in human body as liquids
fire = bile (choler), air = blood, earth = black bile (invented; does not exist, made to fit
theory), water = phlegm
if there was disease, then there was an imbalance of liquids in the body
seasons:
blood = spring/youth, bile = summer/maturity, black bile = autumn/middle age, phlegm
= winter/old age
Greco-Roman Medical Sects
o Dogmatism
various theories of disease aetiology
study of human anatomy important
patient as an individual:
physical temperament
environment
symptoms
Proponents: Hippocrates, Galen
o Empiricism
specific disease aetiology of no interest/consequence
don't need to know cause of disease
study of anatomy unnecessary, even foolish
no point, especially dissecting dead bodies
accurate observation and recording of patients
revered Hippocrates for his records
physician to rely primarily upon prior experience treating same set of symptoms
look at past notes; purely experience
o Methodism
specific disease aetiology of no interest/consequence
understanding anatomy unnecessary; even foolish
used Corpuscular Theory
very popular treatment: promised swift, gentle therapies
Proponent: Soranus
o didn't matter which sect physicians belonged; more philosophical beliefs
treatments used were the same
Available Treatment Options
o Diet
o Alternation of rest and exercise
o Bathing (therapeutic)
o Pharmaceuticals (herbs or minerals)
wasn't used at first, because they didnt know much about it; didnt want to kill people
o Purgings: bleeding, vomiting, enemas
o Surgery
very limited anaesthetics (probably wine)
o Cautery (burning the skin)
methodists didn't do this; were popular as a result
Greek and Roman Medicine
o touches upon:
philosophy
approaches to medicine
religion
"science"
Healing by the gods