Latinisms and scientific nomenclatures

Scientific texts and technical texts dealing with certain topics such as medicine are frequently littered with terms and phrases which are either in Latin or have Latin origins. For an inexperienced translator or layperson, the use of Latin can be daunting. Yet, despite their intimidating appearance, Latinisms are actually quite a useful feature of texts and can make the job of translating texts on complex subjects substantially easier, or at least, less problematic. The use of Latin in scientific and technical texts - especially in relation to medicine and the natural sciences such as zoology and botany - stems from the traditional role of Latin as a common language or lingua franca among scientists. Ironically, Latin was seen as the language of knowledge and was used as a way of communicating with colleagues, thereby removing the need for translation.

Consequently, many significant scientific works were published in Latin with the result that many key concepts were only known by their Latin name. Technical terms that were assimilated into national languages often retained their overall Latin appearance with only minor modifications to allow the terms to function within a particular grammar or orthography. In European languages in particular, many specialized terms bear a striking resemblance from one language to another precisely because of this common ancestry in Latin.

Latin in scientific language is introduced using what is known as scientific nomenclature, a system of assigning unique names to various species of animals and plants. This system is needed in order to provide scientists with stable, simple and internationally acceptable ways of naming objects in the natural world. The best known of these methods is based on a complex system of Latin terms proposed by Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his book Systema Naturae in 1758. Linnaen classification, as the system is known, is a standard feature of scientific and technical discourse. It is described as a binomial nomenclatural system and it assigns a unique two-part name in which the first word indicates the genus and the second the species, e.g., Corydoras paleatus, which is commonly known as the rather tasty-sounding "peppered Cory catfish".

Latin is also used in medical contexts as a way of naming the anatomy of animals, including humans. This gives rise to standard anatomical terms of location, which consist of a noun usually in Latin or based closely on Latin to indicate the part of the anatomy, and frequently words which are known as directional terms:

Directional term	Explanation
superior	top, towards the head (Can be used relatively)
inferior	bottom, towards the feet (Can be used relatively)
anterior	to the front of the body
posterior	to the back of the body
dorsal	front (Less common when referring to body as a whole, more applicable to particular organ or structure)
ventral	back (Less common when referring to body as a whole, more applicable to particular organ or structure)
lateral	away from the middle, to the side
medial	Middle
proximal	away from an extremity (In relative terms, a closer part)
distal	towards an extremity (In relative terms, a more distant part)
intermediate	away from either end (Only used in relative terms)
ipsilateral	same side
contralateral	opposite side
superficial	shallow, not deep (Only used in relative terms)
deep	not shallow (Only used in relative terms)

For scientists, the advantages of using scientific nomenclature are that every species is uniquely named and these names are understood by experts in all countries and languages. In addition, they ensure consistency through standard spelling and punctuation and, because they can only be revised by expert commit­tees, they are stable and tend not to gain connotations as conventional language does. These benefits are also of use to the translator who, depending on the text being translated, can either leave the Latin terms as they are or, if a target language translation is necessary, can use the standard international terms to identify their commonly used equivalents in the target language.

Of course, Latin terms are not without their problems. For scientists and laypersons alike, they can be difficult to remember and they are liable to being misspelled. If this is the case in a text to be translated, searching for background information and target language equivalents becomes more difficult, though not impossible.