As usual, the Bard got it right—at least when it comes to flowers. But when it comes
to medicine, things are more complex. Medical language has evolved over some 2 1/2
millennia. Many terms originated with the ancient Greeks and Romans, but various cultures
have enriched medical nomenclature over the years. Add the diagnoses that honor distinguished
physicians of yore and the explosion of scientific knowledge during recent decades,
and it is easy to see how we have arrived at our current hodgepodge of obscure and
confusing terms.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: May 20, 2013
Harvey B. Simon, MD, Section EditorFootnotes
Funding: None.
Conflict of Interest: None.
Authorship: The author is solely responsible for the content of this manuscript.
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
