Medical dictionary

A medical dictionary is a lexicon for words used in medicine. The three major English language medical dictionaries are Stedman's, Taber's, and Dorland's Pocket Medical Dictionary. Other significant medical dictionaries are distributed by Elsevier, the world's largest publisher of medical and scientific literature, and their French division Masson. 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.

Many of the dictionaries mentioned above are available online, and other electronic dictionaries for medicine are available as downloadable software packages for Apple Macintosh and Windows computers, PDAs, and smartphones or as CD-ROM, as well as bilingual dictionaries and translation dictionaries.

History

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."^[1] By the time of Antonio Guaineri 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.^[2][3]

Definitions

In medical dictionaries, definitions should to the greatest extent possible be:

• Simple and easy to understand,^[4] preferably even by the general public^[5]
• Useful clinically^[5] or in related areas where the definition will be used.^[4]
• Specific,^[4] that is, by reading the definition only, it should ideally not be possible to refer to any other entity than the definiendum.
• Measurable^[4]
• Reflecting current scientific knowledge^[4][5]

See also

• Acronyms in healthcare
• Medical classification

References

1. ^ Henry FP (1905 Jan). "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.". Med Library Hist J. 3 (1): 27–40. PMC 1692319. PMID 18340862. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1692319. 
2. ^ Danielle Jacquart (1990). "Theory, everyday practice, and three fifteenth-century physicians". Osiris 6: 140–160. JSTOR 301784. 
3. ^ Jacobi Partibus (1500) (in Latin). Summula per alphabetum super plurimis remediis et ipsius. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb37229239v. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} McPherson, M.; Arango, P.; Fox, H.; Lauver, C.; McManus, M.; Newacheck, P.; Perrin, J.; Shonkoff, J. et al. (1998). "A new definition of children with special health care needs". Pediatrics 102 (1 Pt 1): 137–140. doi:10.1542/peds.102.1.137. PMID 9714637.  edit
5. ^ ^{a b c} Morse, R. M.; Flavin, D. K. (1992). "The Definition of Alcoholism". JAMA 268 (8): 1012–1014. doi:10.1001/jama.1992.03490080086030. PMID 1501306.  edit

External links

• Medical dictionaries at the Open Directory Project
• A List of online medical dictionaries at Healthplusplus.com
• Medical Terminology Database
• Medical Dictionary Database for the iPhone
• Medical Terminology Database iPhone

This article about a medical book is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Medical dictionaries Medical book stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР Harlandale Independent School District Sudbury Theatre Centre Look at other dictionaries: medical dictionary — dictionary of medical terms …   English contemporary dictionary Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities — Das Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (deutsch: Medizinisches Wörterbuch für Aktivitäten im Rahmen der Arzneimittelzulassung), abgekürzt MedDRA, ist eine Sammlung standardisierter, vorwiegend medizinischer Begriffe, die in… …   Deutsch Wikipedia Medical terminology — is a vocabulary for accurately describing the human body and associated components, conditions, processes and process in a science based manner. Some examples are: R.I.C.E., trapezius, and latissimus dorsi. It is to be used in the medical and… …   Wikipedia Medical classification — Medical classification, or medical coding, is the process of transforming descriptions of medical diagnoses and procedures into universal medical code numbers. The diagnoses and procedures are usually taken from a variety of sources within the… …   Wikipedia Medical — Med ic*al, a. [LL. medicalis, L. medicus belonging to healing, fr. mederi to heal; cf. Zend madha medical science, wisdom, Gr. ? to learn, E. mind: cf. F. m[ e]dical.] [1913 Webster] 1. Of, pertaining to, or having to do with, the art of healing… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English dictionary — [dik′shə ner΄ē] n. pl. dictionaries [ML dictionarium < LL dictio: see DICTION] 1. a book of alphabetically listed words in a language, with definitions, etymologies, pronunciations, and other information; lexicon 2. a book of alphabetically… …   English World dictionary Medical procedure — A medical procedure is a course of action intended to achieve a result in the care of persons with health problems. A medical procedure with the intention of determining, measuring or diagnosing a patient condition or parameter is also called a… …   Wikipedia Medical imaging — This article is about imaging techniques and modalities for the human body. For imaging of animals in research, see Preclinical imaging. Medical imaging Diagnostics A CT scan image showing a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm …   Wikipedia Dictionary — For other uses, see Dictionary (disambiguation). For Wikimedia s dictionary project visit Wiktionary, or see the Wiktionary article. A multi volume Latin dictionary by Egidio Forcellini. A dic …   Wikipedia dictionary — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ good ▪ comprehensive, unabridged ▪ electronic, online ▪ picture ▪ pocket …   Collocations dictionary 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”