Anatomy Atlases: Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Part I: Muscular System: Glossary of Terms

Anatomy Atlases(tm) : A digital library of anatomy information

Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Part I: Muscular System

Glossary of Terms

Ronald A. Bergman, PhD
Adel K. Afifi, MD, MS
Ryosuke Miyauchi, MD
Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed

Hippocrates and other ancient anatomists had to develop a dictionary in order to communicate their observations. Rufus even produced a book, "On naming of the Parts of the Body," in the first century. Galen, however was among the first to attempt to establish a reasonably comprehensive nomenclature derived from the Greek. It was very extensive and a large percentage of his terms are still in use today. It is clear however that progress in descriptive terminology was vital to growth of the subject. What Galen referred to as "the muscles which rotate the head and whose extremities reach the sternum and clavicle"is simply referred to as the sternocleidomastoid muscle today. Anatomical nomenclature grew enormously and haphazardously with innumerable synonyms from the second to the 16th century. Some 40,000 terms were used by anatomists with some structures having as many as 10, or more, different names. Communication between anatomists and other interested parties became extremely difficult.

During the 16th century several important physician/anatomists, among them Guenther and Sylvius (Vesalius' teacher) sought resolution of the chaotic state of the nomenclature and did this through the published work of Vesalius. It was Sylvius that gave names to most of the blood vessels and it is his terminology that became the basis for the development of all future nomenclatures. Vesalius, in his Fabrica of 1543, used a highly involved, difficult, and sophisticated Latin idiom of a type affected by the more pretentious, mid-sixteenth century humanists. This nomenclature failed to be adopted because the physicians of the period were not broadly or even well educated and they could not understand it or use it correctly. Vesalius, inspite of his failure, was certainly was one of the most important reformers of the nomenclature of the period.

Title page of Vesalius' book, "De humani corporis fabrica libri septum,"
published in Basel in 1543, by Joannis Oporini.
Considered by many scholars to be the most important medical book ever published.

In the 18th century, the great German anatomist, von Sömmerring avoided using eponyms, i.e., the use of proper names. He asked the question, "did not Fallopius (1523-1562) know the ileocaecal valve long before Bauhin (1560-1624)?" It was, afterall, the Italian anatomists and other anatomists working in Italy that originally taught us anatomy. Bauhin's name was synonymous, the eponym, for the ileocaecal valve at that time. Priority was questioned, and the appropriateness of the eponym was challenged by von Sömmerring. These arguments, unfortunately, continue to the present day; anatomists tend to use anatomical terms and clinicians continue to use eponyms.

Jakob Henle, another important German anatomist accepted and used only one name for each structure and he rejected personal names on the ground that they were frequently not in accord with historical fact or justice thereby supporting von Sömmerring. In this way, Henle made several fundamental contributions to anatomical nomenclature. Later in the nineteenth century, Hyrtl, the Viennese anatomist, wrote a detailed analysis of 421 terms published as a book in 1880, "Onomatogia anatomica." The great number of synonyms however remained a huge problem. In any large textbook of gross anatomy published anound 1900, one could find as many as 10,000 terms. It should be remembered that between the 17th and 19th centuries at least 40,000 terms were expunged from the anatomical dictionary. Still, more than half of the terms found in a early 20th century textbook of anatomy were synonyms. Barker (1907), found 30,000 terms in several large textbooks and 40 synonyms for the epiphysis cerebri alone: the proper NA (Nomina Anatomica) or official term is corpus pineale: Gr. conarium; Lat. pinus, pineal gland or body.

The German founders of the Anatomische Gesellschaft held a meeting in Basle in 1868. Arguably the greatest assemblage of anatomists ever convenened, produced a list of 4500 acceptable terms from the 30-50,000 available. The 4500 terms became known as the BNA (Basle Nomina Anatomica); our basic international anatomical dictionary. This meeting was followed by the Birmingham revision in 1933, the Paris nomina in 1950, and continues today through an international committee that edits and scrutinizes the nomina.

Each term in the official list of the NA is in latin, but it is important to note that each country is at liberty to translate the official Latin into its own vernacular for teaching purposes. The longest anatomical term found by the present authors is in German, and consists of 42 letters, Bauchspeicheldrüsenzwölffingerdarmpulsader. Translated into English (not much better), superior pancreatoduodenal artery, three words. A number of Latin terms are never translated when writing in English, French, German, or Italian and these include foramen magnum and tunica albuginea as examples. Some of these terms are found in the Glossary and in the listing of Old and Modern Terminology. Without the latter listing, it is not always possible to make sense of the older literature regardless of the language it is written in.

Final Pages of Tabulated Muscles
From Albinus, B.S. Historia Musculorum Hominis, Apud Theodorum Haak & Henricum Mulhovium, 1734

Glossary of Terms

A| B| C| D| E| F| G| H| I| J| K| L| M| N| O| P| Q| R| S| T| U| V| W| X| Y| Z

Their origin and definition related to Muscles.

The following abbreviations are used: F., French; G., Greek; L., Latin; and ME., Middle English.

A.

Abductor: (L. abducere, to move away). A muscle that draws a structure away from the axis of the body or one of its parts, e.g. lateral rectus muscle.
Accessorius: (L. accessorius, to move toward). Accessory or supernumerary. Also denoting specific muscles.
Accessory: (L. accessorius, to move toward). Supernumerary, adjuvant.
Adductor: (L. adducere, to bring forward). A muscle that draws a structure toward the axis of the body or one of its parts, e.g. adductor pollicis.
Alae(L. ala, wing).: Relating to a muscle of the nose, and others.
Anconeus: (G. ankon, elbow). Musculus anconeus.
Ani: (L. anus, anal oriface). Pertaining to a muscle that supports the anus.
Anticus: (L. anticus, anterior). Designating a muscle as placed anteriorly, e.g. serratus anterior.
Arch: (L. arcus, a bow). Any structure resembling a bent bow or an arch.
Articulationis: (L. articulationes, the forming of new joints of a vine). Pertaining to muscles that insert into a joint capsule.
Arytenoid: (G. arytenoideus, ladel-shaped). Pertaining to muscles attached to this laryngeal cartilage.
Atlanto-: (G. Atlas, in Greek mythology a Titan who supported the world on his shoulders). Relating to muscles attached to the first cervicle vertebra, the atlas.
Atloideus.: See Atlanto-
Auricularis: (L. auricularis, the external ear). Pertaining to muscles that attach to the external ear. Also referring to the fifth digit of the hand because of its use in cleaning the external auditory meatus.
Axillary: (L. axilla, armpit). Pertaining to muscles that are found in the region of the armpit, e.g. axillary arch muscle.
Azygos: (G. a, without + zygon, yoke). Any unpaired muscle.

Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Terms

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W, X, Y, Z