[Historical research on international medical terminology]

The history of medical terminology is part of the history of medicine. Historical study of medical terminology involves the following aims: 1. to investigate the role of Latin and Greek in medical terminology; 2. to study changes and trends in terminology, such as changes induced by better insight into certain phenomena, narrowing and broadening of the content of terms, development of models and of special means of word formation, fight against foreign elements in terminology, and the existence of synonyms and eponyms; 3. research into the origin and development of individual terms; 4. to establish the use of terms by individual authors; 5. to study trends towards unification of terminology; 6. to investigate theoretical views of physicians on medical terminology in the past. (Ref. 93.).