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Introducfion
rightsandresponsibilities,todisturbtheirmindsandcausemisfortunes(Zieliński,2004:349).Phobos(the
rootwordofphobiameaning“irrationalfear”)inGreekmythologyisthegodandpersonificationoffearand
panic.AsasonofAres,thegodofwar,hecauseddisorderinbattle(Robertson,2003:1ff).
ArgumentsforusingLafindiagnosis
Latinpossessesanumberofspecificfeaturesthatareextremelyhelpfulwhilewordingdiagnoses(Džuganová,
2019:131-132).ThefollowingargumentsindicatetheneedforusingLatin:stability,clarityandsemantic
transparencyofnomenclature,effectivecommunicationbetweendoctorsfromothercountries,conciseness,
respectingdoctor-patientconfidentiality,andeventually,along-livedpraxis.TheusageofLatinterminology
indiagnosishasalsoaneducationalvalue-notonlybecauseofthepossibilityoflearningaforeignlanguage
butalsobecauseoftheconstructionofthesephrases,fortheyarecompactinformandrichincontent
(Piekarz,1996;Kosmowski,2002).
Firstofall,itisnecessarytokeepinmindthatasa“dead”languageLatinisaneutralgroundsinceitdoes
notchangethemeaningsofwords,astheydoinamodernlanguage,inwhichthesensesofwordsevolve.
Inotherwords,thefactthattheuseofLatinisnolongerwidelyspreadinspeakingandwritingisactually
initsfavor.Medicallexishasarelativelystablebasicvocabulary,whereastheuseofmodernlanguagesin
diagnosingwouldunnecessarilyfosterwideruseofcurrentfancywords,rhetoricalstyle,etc.
Secondly,creatingadiagnosisrequiresprecisionandlogic.Itisnotpossibleformodernlanguageto
meettheserequirements.TheLatinandGreekrootswhosemeaningsareconcrete,and-whencombined
withaffixes-resultinclearandstraightforwardmeaning,provideaprecisediagnosisandanagreementin
scientificcommunication(Jóskowska,Grabarczyk,2013:41).Clear,preciselanguageenablesclear,precise
thinking,speaking,writing,andeventuallydiagnosing.Thus,itiscrucialtouselanguagewithclarityand
precisionifotherpeoplearetounderstandthethoughtsdoctorsaretryingtocommunicate.
Thirdly,theusefulnessofLatininmedicaldiscourseappealsinitsconciseness(Lysanets,2018:8).There
arenumbersofone-wordLatintermsthatconveymuchcontent.Thiskindofsolutionenablesdoctorsto
deliveramaximumofnecessaryinformationusingtheminimumlinguistictools.Asaresult,adiagnosiscan
besimpleandexplicit.
Fourthly,Latinensuresprivacyandconfidence.Itisabouttherighttohidetheinformationthatisnotto
bepassedon.Doctorshaveanobligationtoprotecttheprivacyoftheirpatients.Thismeansthatdoctorsare
notallowedtodisclosediagnosesorprivateinformationwithoutpermission.ThediagnosisinLatinenables
doctorstofulfillthesedemands.
MedicalterminologylaunchedbytheGreeksanddevelopedbytheRomanshadamajorimpactonthe
advancementofspecialisedcommunicationinlaterperiods.ElementsofLatinandGreekhavebeenexploited
fortheformationofmedicaltermslongafterAntiquity.Moreover,bothlanguagesstillplayamajorrolein
medicineandwillundoubtedlydosoforalongtimetocome(Clackson,2011:461).
UsingLafinindiagnoses
Incertaininstances,Latindiagnosescanbechallengingfordoctorstowrite,notbecauseofthestatusoftheir
medicalknowledgebutbecauseofthestatusoftheirLatinknowledge.IftheyhavenevertakenLatinorif
theystudiedLatinmanyyearsago,theymayfeelsomeconcernaboutcreatingLatindiagnoses.Nevertheless,
theseconcernsarenotentirelyjustifiedifoneonlyrememberstofollowsomebasicrules.WhenusingLatin,
oneofthesignificantobstaclestoovercomeisinflectedendingsrules.WhileEnglishexpressesthemeaning
mainlybythewordorder(e.g.subject,verb,object;SVO),Latinexpressesitssensethroughdifferentendings
addedtothestemofitsverbs,nouns,andadjectives.Hence,themainfocusforanyuserofLatinistomaster
thedeclensionsofnounsandadjectivesandtheconjugationparadigmsoftheverbsinordertomakeuseof
theLatinlanguagecorrectlyandeffectively(Lyons,1968:170-208).
LatininmedicaltaxonomycanbeusedasisthecaseinLinnaeus’model.Thismodeloftaxonomymaking
issimple,elegant,andhasthepotentialtoinspirecontemporaryscientists(Cain,2022).Accordingtothis
