The inclusion of medical terms in early English–Chinese dictionaries

Abstract

Robert Morrison’s pioneering A Dictionary of the Chinese Language comprises three parts, the last of which is in essence an English–Chinese dictionary. This part included dozens of medical terms besides its coverage of common English words. Later English–Chinese dictionaries such as Samuel Wells Williams’ An English and Chinese Vocabulary in the Court Dialect and Walter Henry Medhurst’s English and Chinese Dictionary continued to record the use of medical terms, and the number of such terms gradually increased. They were followed by Benjamin Hobsons’ A Medical Vocabulary in English and Chinese whose coverage of medical terms far exceeded those of previous dictionaries. In two later dictionaries that were compiled by Justus Doolittle and Wilhelm Lobscheid, respectively, the number of medical terms increased considerably. At the end of the 19th century, with the formation of a terminology committee, the importance of medical terminology and standard medical nomenclature was recognized, and later a series of medical textbooks and several medical dictionaries were published. This paper attempts to research into the inclusion of medical terms in English–Chinese dictionaries published from 1822 to 1908, and the problems found therein will be discussed in detail.