Medical Vocabulary, with Especial Reference to the Hippocratic Corpus

Abstract

This chapter considers the emergence of Hippocratic lexicography. The study of medical texts, and to a limited extent the study of medical vocabulary, has attracted much interest recently, and can be viewed as an academic growth area. The proliferation of new subject areas—women’s studies, sociology, environmental issues, ethnography—which impinge on issues of human health and well-being has caused scholars to look anew at the rich source material to be found in medical writings. The situation has changed greatly since the first edition of the Lexicon in 1843 and even since the ninth in 1925–40: ancient medicine, once viewed as the esoteric pursuit of eccentrics or the province of retired physicians, has become a mainstream area of academic specialization. There is now a large and growing constituency of young, and not so young, scholars who need a lexicon to consult for aid in reading these unfamiliar and frequently difficult texts.