Main Sources of Origin of Anatomical Terms
Authors: Svitlitsky Andriy , Chernyavsky Artur , Matvieishyna Tetiana , Shcherbakov Maksym 
Published: August 2024

the study of both human anatomy and medicine in general is based on knowledge of anatomical and medical terminology. However, for a student of higher medical education, there is a whole series of difficulties associated with memorizing a large number of specialized terms of Latin or Greek origin, which is a big problem when studying, first of all, human anatomy, where the number of terms is about 7.5 thousand. This article is a continuation of the work of the Department of Human Anatomy, Operative Surgery and Topographic Anatomy of ZSMPhU with the study of anatomical terminology, which was started by Doctor of Sciences in Medicine, Professor M. A. Voloshyn. The aim of the study was to conduct an analysis of anatomical terms in order to study, systematize and exclusion of errors. In order to facilitate the understanding and memorization of specialized anatomical terms by the staff of the Department of Human Anatomy, Operative Surgery and Topographic Anatomy of ZSMPhU, together with the teachers of the Department of Foreign Languages of ZSMPhU, a classification of anatomical terms by origin has been developed and proposed. Materials and methods: the search and selection of scientific literature for a systematic review was carried out by the authors independently in the PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane databases using the keywords: "anatomy", "eponyms", "classification", "linguistics", "terminology" in the full texts of articles in English and Ukrainian based on the results of studies with the level of evidence I-III. All terms in human anatomy can be classified by the language of origin (linguistic classification) and by the connection of the term with the object or phenomenon of the surrounding world from which it originates (etymological classification). By language of origin (linguistic classification): 1. Latin (classical, postclassical); 2. Greek; 3. Arabic; 4. Old English; 5. other languages. According to the connection with the object or phenomenon of the surrounding world (etymological classification), terms are divided into anatomical names that reflect ancient ideas about living and inanimate objects of the surrounding world (terms whose origin is connected with objects of the inanimate world: cosmological terms; geological terms, as well as terms, the origin of which is related to the objects of the living world; terms of animalistic origin (terms , the origin of which is related to tableware, the origin of which is related to clothing and jewelry, the origin of which is related to furniture and toys, the origin of which is related to household tools and appliances, the origin of which is related to parts of the human dwelling, which are related to the domestic activity of a person and related to the military activity of a person), terms related to geometric figures, terms related to the names of colors, terms related to mythical or Biblical characters (terms related to Greek mythology, related to Roman mythology, related to Egyptian mythology, of biblical origin), eponyms, terms derived from the names of human body parts, terms related to certain functions of an organ, terms, related to certain characteristics of the object (shape, position, dimensions) and general terms, terms of uncertain origin and anachronisms. The proposed classification of anatomical terms by origin allows a deeper understanding of the historical, cultural, social and scientific meaning of some terms, makes them more understandable for students studying human anatomy.