Neurognostics Question: An American Neurophysiologist,Pioneer of Electromyography,A President of Universities and Scientific Advisor to United States Presidents |
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| Authors: | Edward J. Fine M.D. Linda Lohr M.A. |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Neurology Service, Department of Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center and Department of Neurology , State University of New York at Buffalo efine@buffalo.edu;3. Manager of Robert L. Brown, M.D. Collection of the History of Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo |
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| Abstract: | The semantics of pain are an important and interesting aspect of any language. Ancient Greek and Latin had multiple words for pain, which makes scrutinizing different meanings problematic. The ancient physician Galen approached this issue through the use of adjectives to describe the qualities for pain, instead of the words for pain themselves. The medical texts of Celsus and Caelius Aurelianus reveal that Latin also vested particular significance in qualifiers to distinguish between different types of pain. This article looks at the qualifying terms used for pain in the ancient Greek and Latin languages to reveal a sophisticated Greco-Roman vocabulary for pain. |
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| Keywords: | Galen Greco-Roman antiquity semantics pain |
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