Medizin
Comprehensive German–Spanish Medical Dictionary
What sort of words does the dictionary contain? Every conceivable sort: technical terms, colloquial expressions and slang, nomenclatures, multi-word units, abbreviations, archaisms, etc.
Equipped with a powerful search engine for browsing by words that start or end with certain letters, by German or Spanish terms, and other options.
1 History
Even without the Dictionary of Doubts and Difficulties in English Medical Translation (hereinafter, Libro Rojo) from Cosnautas, medical translators working from English have at their disposal today, as they always have, countless terminology resources: excellent monolingual English medical dictionaries (Dorland, Stedman, Churchill), a good number of bilingual medical dictionaries (almost all of them large, and some more than passable), endless monolingual and bilingual online glossaries, medical journals galore in every specialty, the best reference works and textbooks in the world – and the most up to date, too – the most complete Wikipedia (more than five million articles!), the possibility of easily compiling parallel texts and comprehensive, reliable linguistic corpora, and so on. Medical translators can certainly tackle terminological doubts in English with considerable confidence, even without any Libro Rojo to hand.
The situation is quite different, however, for those who have to translate from French or German into Spanish (not to mention other international source languages that are less common among us, such as Russian, Japanese, Arabic, Portuguese, Chinese or Dutch). Since the Second World War, publishing output in Spanish-speaking countries for all language pairs other than English–Spanish has presented a bleak picture that I would venture to describe, without fear of exaggeration, as a veritable lexicographical wasteland. This bleak picture is particularly striking in the German–Spanish language pair, in contrast with the central role that German-speaking countries played in medicine and other biomedical sciences in the 20th century.
German–Spanish medical dictionaries have indeed been published over these years, but they leave much to be desired and are unable to solve most of the terminological doubts that crop up in a specialist translator’s work.1 When I started weighing up the idea of compiling a German–Spanish medical dictionary, it became clear to me ipso facto that the German–Spanish language pair (like the French–Spanish pair) was not yet mature enough, from a terminographic perspective, to embark on a Libro Rojo with an extensive critical apparatus on specific doubts and difficulties. What was needed, first and foremost, was to compile a large, traditional-style German–Spanish medical dictionary: one with simple equivalents and barely any critical, explanatory or encyclopaedic commentary.
1 Fernando A. Navarro: “Diccionarios médicos alemán-español: ¿cuál me compro?” In: Elena Sánchez Trigo and Oscar Diaz Fouces (editors): Traducción & Comunicación, vol. 4. Vigo: Universidade de Vigo, 2003; pp. 85‑120.
2 General approach
What should this sort of dictionary contain? Everything; absolutely everything. Not only medical technical terms commonly found in specialised dictionaries, but also medical colloquial expressions and slang (which is so prominent in German), scientific terms in English and Latin, standardised nomenclatures, multi-word units and collocations, technical acronyms, contractions and abbreviations, relevant jobs and positions, anthroponyms, toponyms, and proper names of scientific journals, hospitals, universities, associations and institutions of all kinds; not forgetting archaisms (such as Ophthalmiater for ophthalmologist or optician), since a large part of current German to Spanish medical translation is related to articles and books published in the heroic age of Germanic medicine (broadly between 1850 and the beginning of the Second World War), when more discoveries and breakthroughs were reported in German than in all other languages put together. In short, such a dictionary should contain any term that a medical translator might encounter in a German source text.
The Comprehensive German–Spanish Medical Dictionary aspires to become the largest bilingual medical dictionary ever published in our field. It is not, however, a critical, annotated dictionary like the Libro Rojo, but a plain bilingual dictionary of equivalents. This means that users – professional medical translators – are assumed to have a certain level of knowledge of medical language in Spanish. When translators look up a term such as Loslassschmerz and find the equivalent “signo de Blumberg”, for example, they are assumed to know beforehand what this sign consists of or, at the very least, where to look it up in a textbook or a good monolingual Spanish medical dictionary. Something similar applies to polysemic entries, where translators will often have to draw on their background knowledge to select the most suitable equivalent for a given context. If, for example, the dictionary indicates that the German combining form Röntgen– may express a relationship with radiology, with radiographs or with fluoroscopy, users are assumed to be able to distinguish between these three concepts in Spanish; or, again, to know at least where to look them up.
3 Dictionary structure
Almost all the entries in this dictionary follow one of the five structures below:
1) Monosemic entry with a single equivalent (with or without comments):
2) Polysemic entry with several meanings (with or without comments)
3) Entry with one or more cross-references to another entry that supplies the equivalent
4) Mixed polysemic entry, with some meanings that provide equivalents and others that refer to another entry
5) Monosemic or polysemic entry that also includes multi-word units
3) Entry with one or more cross references to another entry that supplies a translation equivalent
4) Mixed polysemic entry, with some meanings that provide equivalents and others that refer to another entry
5) Monosemic or polysemic entry that also includes multi-word units
4 Dictionary size
Version 1.19 of the Comprehensive German–Spanish Medical Dictionary contains some 256,800 entries with more than 393,800 equivalents (counting both meanings and multi-word units, which are listed within a single entry) and about 89,600 clickable cross-references.
To get a rough idea of what this size means, it may be useful to make a quick comparison with three of the leading monolingual German medical dictionaries (Pschyrembel Klinisches Wörterbuch,1 Springer Wörterbuch Medizin2 and Roche Lexikon Medizin,3 with about 50,000 to 60,000 entries each), two small, current bilingual dictionaries (by Nolte-Schlegel4 and Tamayo Delgado,5 with about 4,000 and 25,000 entries, respectively) and the one that, until the appearance of the Comprehensive German–Spanish Medical Dictionary, could be considered the largest bilingual German–Spanish medical dictionary (by the Ruizes, father and son,6 with about 130,000 entries).
Another simple way to compare sizes is to count the number of entries that start with Arznei- in each of these dictionaries (figures in square brackets): Pschyrembel [15], Springer [19], Roche [14], Nolte [0], Tamayo [9] and Ruiz [65]. The Comprehensive German–Spanish Medical Dictionary on Cosnautas currently has more than two hundred entries starting with Arznei–.
It should be noted that the dictionary is not yet complete: it is still a work being compiled, expanded and refined. For example, it contains about 6,000 entries that I am currently working on, which appear online with only the headword and incoming cross-references, but without Spanish equivalents, meanings or multi-word units, and are simply marked “entrada en elaboración” (“entry under development”). I plan to keep adding new headwords and meanings to the dictionary on an ongoing basis, and these will become available in the successive versions that we will release periodically on Cosnautas. I would be grateful for any help that users can give me through the online “Help us improve” forms, by suggesting new entries or meanings and, above all, by correcting the many typos and errors in this first edition of the Comprehensive German–Spanish Medical Dictionary, which in its current state is little more than a working draft.
1 Christopher Zink (editor). Pschyrembel: Klinisches Wörterbuch mit klinischen Syndromen und Nomina anatomica (259th edition). Berlin: De Gruyter, 2001.
2 Peter Reuter. Springer Wörterbuch Medizin. Berlin: Springer, 2001.
3 Dagmar Reiche (editor). Roche Lexikon Medizin (5th edition). Munich: Urban & Fischer, 2003.
4 Nolte-Schlegel, I.; González Soler, J. J. Medizinisches Wörterbuch deutsch-spanisch-portugiesisch. Diccionario de medicina alemán-español-portugués. Dicionário de termos médicos alemão-espanhol-português. Berlin: Springer, 2001.
5 Tamayo Delgado, J. Medizinisches Wörterbuch deutsch-spanisch. Diccionario médico alemán-español. Essen: DZS, undated (2000?).
6 Francisco Ruiz Torres and Francisco Ruiz Albrecht. Diccionario de medicina alemán-español, español-alemán. Medizinisches Wörterbuch deutsch-spanisch, spanisch-deutsch. Valladolid: Zirtabe, 2001.
5 Complex forms
Multi-word units do not have their own entries in this dictionary; they are listed under the first noun or main element that they contain. For example, the multi-word unit hintere Wurzel der Ansa cervicalis is listed in the entry for Wurzel, and frei erhältlich in the entry for erhältlich.
At present, the dictionary has about 15,900 entries containing a total of more than 60,100 multi-word units. In most cases, the number of multi-word units is small, fewer than a dozen, as can be seen, for example, in the entries for Kreislauf and Ruhr. However, there are about a thousand entries with more than twelve multi-word units each, and a hundred or so extreme cases with more than fifty (sometimes even more than three hundred), as can be seen, for example, in the entries for Glandula and Mittel.
6 Acronyms, abbreviations, and symbols
The dictionary currently has over 23,100 abbreviations, most of which are German, but it also includes some 6,600 English and 2,300 Latin abbreviations that are commonly used in German medical texts.
I certainly do not intend the Comprehensive German–Spanish Medical Dictionary to serve as a dictionary of English medical abbreviations. To begin with, that would be a Herculean task: an abbreviation such as ACP would mean including all kinds of national bodies from English-speaking countries, such as the American College of Pathologists, American College of Pharmacists, American College of Physicians, American College of Prosthodontists, American College of Psychiatrists, etc. I have, however, tried to include the many English abbreviations that are frequently found as they stand, untranslated, in German medical texts. And also, of course, those that are easily confused: FP may be Frischplasma in German, but also frozen plasma in English; URQ may be unterer rechter Quadrant in German, but also upper right quadrant in English.
If the expansion of an abbreviation has its own entry in the dictionary, a clickable hyperlink leads to it; otherwise, the expansion is given in German [de] (or English [en], Latin [la] or French [fr]), along with its Spanish equivalent. Below are some examples covering a range of cases:
Many of these abbreviations may of course have multiple meanings in German texts (which can sometimes cause confusion even within a single subject area: SGTT may stand for Standardglukosetoleranztest or Steroidglukosetoleranztest), which is why these entries sometimes contain a large number of meanings; this is the case with entries such as AP (with 60 meanings) and E (with 75 meanings), among many others.
7 Usage guide
Browse the Comprehensive German–Spanish Medical Dictionary online with a search engine that offers six search modes:
1. Simple entry
This is the default option to search for a dictionary entry. After typing two or more letters, a drop-down menu appears with the first ten entries in the dictionary that start with the given letter combination. If the entry you are looking for is among them, you can select it with the mouse without typing any further.
Important: all dictionary entries use the Swiss alphabet, which lacks the letter ß (Eszett). To search for an entry that contains it, type ss (double s) instead. For example, the terms beißen, Fuß and Gesäß appear in the dictionary as beissen, Fuss and Gesäss, respectively.
2. Headword starts with…
This mode performs a search for a combination of at least four characters at the beginning of a headword. For example, typing “haut” in this search mode returns a list of headwords such as Hautabdeckung, Hautabdruck, Hautabhebung, Hautablederung, Hautablegergeschwulst, Hautablösung, Hautablösungsinstrument…
3. Headword ends with…
This mode performs a search for a combination of at least four characters at the end of a headword. For example, typing “haut” in this search mode returns a list of headwords such as Abszesshaut, Aderhaut, Afterhaut, Aknehaut, Alligatorhaut, Altershaut, Alveolarschleimhaut…
4. Headword contains…
This mode performs a search for a combination of at least four characters in any part of a headword. For example, typing “haut” in this search mode returns a list of all headwords that start with Haut– (see search mode 2 above), end with –haut (see search mode 3 above) or contain the combination –haut– inside the term (Abbe-Hautlappen, Aderhautablösung, Afterschleimhauteinriss, Aorteninnenhautentzündung, Augenbindehautsack, Bachmann-Hauttest, Backenschleimhautverwachsung…).
5. German term
This search mode finds German terms not only in the dictionary’s headword list but also in expanded abbreviations and complex forms. Thus, entering “haut” in this search mode returns not only the dictionary entry Haut, but also the abbreviation PTH (which stands for prozentuale Tiefendosis in der Haut) and the entry Angionekrose (containing the complex form allergische Angionekrose der Haut), among others.
6. Spanish term
The Comprehensive German–Spanish Medical Dictionary is not designed to be used as a reverse Spanish–German dictionary, nor do I recommend its use for Spanish-to-German translation. However, this last search mode allows you to find Spanish equivalents anywhere in the dictionary. For example, a search for “pancreatitis” returns not only entries such as Pankreatitis (= pancreatitis), Bauchspeicheldrüsenentzündung (= pancreatitis), Autoimmunpankreatitis (= pancreatitis autoinmunitaria) and Viruspankreatitis (= pancreatitis vírica), but also entries such as Apoplexia (containing the complex form Apoplexia pancreatis = pancreatitis hemorrágica aguda) and abbreviations such as CBP (chronische bakterielle Pankreatitis = pancreatitis bacteriana crónica) or NP (nekrotisierende Pankreatitis = pancreatitis necrosante).
8 Acknowledgements
Contributing cosnautas
Contributing cosnautas who have sent suggestions and proposed additions or corrections:
Version 1.19: Sarah Jane Aberásturi, Claudia Baaken, Andrea Behrendt, Juan Cuartero Otal, José Antonio de la Riva Fort, Bona García, Nuria González Martínez, Isabel M. Martos, Mónica Parcet, Marcos Segura Hernández, Lorenzo Serrahima.
Version 1.17: Claudia Baaken, Juan Cuartero Otal, Gisela Grosselfinger, Isabel M. Martos, Lorenzo Serrahima.
Version 1.16: Yolanda Antón Casanova, Juan Cuartero Otal, Isabel M. Martos Maldonado, Lorenzo Serrahima.
Version 1.15:
Sarah Jane Aberásturi, Juan Cuartero Otal,
Dorothea Ernst,
Silvia Gómez de Antonio,
Gisela Grosselfinger,
Mónica Meinecke,
Blanca Paniagua Marco,
Lorenzo Serrahima.
Version 1.14:
Sarah Jane Aberásturi, Juan Cuartero Otal, Dorothea Ernst, Mónica Herrero Vilella, María José Nägler, Lorenzo Serrahima.
Version 1.13:
Yolanda Antón Casanova, Silvia Gómez de Antonio, Juan Miguel López Almazán, Rafael Milanés, Cati Mora, Itziar Santín, Lorenzo Serrahima,
Paula Torres.
Version 1.12: Silvia Gómez de Antonio, Gisela Grosselfinger, Rafael Milanés, Lorenzo Serrahima, Montserrat Varela Navarro.
Version 1.11:
Silvia Gómez de Antonio, Josef Strasser.
Version 1.10:
Francisco Bautista
Becerro, Francisco Hernández, Sarah Rodríguez Vasconcelos, Marga Vidal Hammer.
Version 1.09:
Yolanda Antón Casanova, Sara Costa, Cristina Estrada, Carlos Gancedo Sempere, Camelia Ionescu Mircea, Mónica Meinecke, Laura Munoa, Manuel Muñoz Torres, Fabiola Peinado Peinado, Lorenzo Serrahima, Marga Vidal Hammer.
Version 1.08:
Gonzalo Astorga, María Barbero, Francisco Bautista Becerro, Cristina Estrada, Hang
Ferrer Mora, Carlos Gancedo Sempere, M.ª del Mar González Peña, Francisco Hernández, Mónica Herrero Vilella, Mónica Meinecke, Angelica Mendoza, Pedro Milla González, Lorenzo Serrahima, Marga Vidal Hammer.
Version 1.07: Yolanda Antón Casanova, Mónica Meinecke, Pedro Milla
González, Carmen Quijada, Michael Scholand, Lorenzo Serrahima, Margarita Vidal Hammer.
Version 1.06: Ana F. Aguilera, Yolanda Antón Casanova, María Barbero, Cristina Estrada, Francisco Hernández, Camelia Ionescu Mircea, Mónica Meinecke, Lorenzo Serrahima.
Version 1.05: Isabel Espuelas, Francisco Hernández, Camelia Ionescu Mircea, Mónica Parcet.
Version 1.04: M.ª del Mar González Peña, Camelia Ionescu Mircea.
Version 1.04: M.ª del Mar González Peña, Camelia Ionescu Mircea.
Version 1.03: Denitsa Borisova, Ariadna Domínguez Montiel, Isabel Espuelas, Carlos Gancedo, Cristina Goebel Vázquez, Francisco Hernández, Camelia Ionescu Mircea, Lorenzo Serrahima, Miguel Á. Turrión.
Version 1.02: Isabel Espuelas, Cristina Estrada, Carlos Gancedo, Silvia Gómez de Antonio, Francisco Hernández, Mónica Meinecke, M.ª Gabriela Ortiz, Ana Pérez Coelho, Virginia Renalias Esteve, Lorenzo Serrahima, Josef Strasser.
Scientific Advisory Board (2017–2021)
The Comprehensive German–Spanish Medical Dictionary is a personal work with a single author, but the sheer scope of the project led me, in its early years, to count on the support of a Scientific Advisory Board. This advisory body was made up of colleagues with a sound knowledge of the German–Spanish language pair and broad experience in translating or interpreting in medicine and related sciences. Their mission was to help me correct errors, validate complex or doubtful equivalents and suggest new terms and meanings to add to the dictionary.
The members of the first Scientific Advisory Board of Medizin (May 2017–May 2019; versions 1.01 to 1.05) were, in alphabetical order by first surname: María Barbero, Jesús Clemente, Isabel Espuelas, Cristina Estrada, Juan V. Fernández de la Gala, Montse Fontboté, Carlos Gancedo, Francisco Hernández, Martin Kuhn, M.ª Gabriela Ortiz, Mónica Parcet, Carmen Quijada, Tenesor Rodríguez Perdomo, Miguel Sáenz, Lorenzo Serrahima and Miguel Turrión.
The members of the second Scientific Advisory Board of Medizin (November 2019–November 2021; versions 1.06 to 1.09) were, in alphabetical order by first surname: Yolanda Antón Casanova, María Barbero, Isabel Espuelas, Cristina Estrada, Hang Ferrer Mora, Carlos Gancedo, Francisco Hernández, Javier Mas, Mónica Meinecke, M.ª Gabriela Ortiz, Carmen Quijada, Tenesor Rodríguez Perdomo, Miguel Sáenz, Belén Santana, Lorenzo Serrahima and Miguel Turrión.