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Eponyms exist in medical terminology and everyday medical language. Some concepts in medical terminology, especially many diseases, syndromes, and techniques, are referred to by the name of the first known patient, the person who first discovered or identified, for example, a test, or the person who invented a medical device. Sometimes the place, region, or population in which the discovery is made is used as an eponym. Thus, the name of the person who discovered a disease, a symptom, a medical finding, a medical or surgical device, a test, or a syndrome is used in medical terminology. Eponyms are terms formed by people’s names, usually surnames. As a way of creating a term in medicine, eponyms are commonly available. Although eponyms come from the name of a person, there are some diverse interlingual or intralingual uses. These differences cause misinterpretations, especially in the translation of medical texts. To avoid such misinterpretations, it is of key importance to master the ways in which eponyms are created in medical translation. This study first presents the definition and composition of eponyms. It then focuses on interlingual differences giving examples from the German-Turkish language pair and highlight points to consider in the translation of medical texts.
Cite this article: Turan, D. (2022). Eponyms in Medical Terminology. Eponyms in the German-Turkish Language Pair. Journal of Literature and Humanities, 68, 103-110.