A helleneologism is a term that refers to a modernly coined word, or neologism, which particularly uses Greek words and syllables, often to make its origins appear more ancient and established than they really are. The word itself derives from the Greek roots ελλήν + νεο + λογος, which respectively mean Greek + new + idea. The use of helleneologisms is rampant in the practice of medicine, where recently-invented products, procedures, or diseases are given difficult-to-pronounce constructions of medical-sounding jargon often before earning any form of recognition by the medical community. Such names convey a false notion that the procedures or disorders are established in the field of science when they may not be. The creation of helleneologisms is prolific from pharmaceutical companies who wish to create professional medical-sounding names for dubious conditions - often of a psychological or psychiatric nature - which their products are designed to treat.
Helleneologisms are consequences of the tendencies of doctorate professions to purposefully include large amounts of ancient languages in their professional vocabularies, both for the purpose of having words that have a very specific and unambiguous meaning, but also arguably for the often mystical appearance of being firmly grounded in long-standing tradition. In particular, this refers to the medical and legal professions. The term technically refers to Greek-language-related neologisms created regardless of by whom, though since the status quo ancient language of choice of the legal profession is Latin, as opposed to the medical community's more prominent use of Greek, the term refers more specifically to medical neologisms more so than any others.
One of the most noted attributes of the Greek language is that much of its vocabulary is made up of lengthy words that are in fact nothing more than composites of short and simple words. A prime example is the English word otorhinolaryngologist, which is often referred to as an "ear, nose, and throat doctor" for ease of pronunciation, and abbreviated further to simply ENT. Medical students and others familiar with the Greek language will quickly notice that the lengthy and difficult-to-pronounce word is simply a composite of the Greek words "ear, nose, throat, study" - individual words that are within the vocabulary of an average Ancient Greek-speaking five-year-old child.
Helleneologisms are often difficult to detect by most people lacking professional training. To the average observer, helleneologisms look similar to words with established meanings that already refer to things common to the universal human experience. In modern practice, however, actual medical professionals are unlikely to be fooled by, or at least will recognize the modern origin of, such terms. As the rote learning of the Greek and Latin roots commonly used in medicine are a part of even a basic medical training syllabus, a modern practitioner of medicine will easily recognize the construction of the word, and often know well enough by experience whether it is of unestablished origin.
Creators of helleneologisms argue that it is vital that the creation of a name recognizable to medical professionals be done in the infancy of any new product or technology to avoid naming-related confusion later should the concept become popular. They cite the vast proliferation of names for different medical products (pharmaceuticals in particular) which go by so many names for marketing purposes so as to detract from the usefulness of the name. Such creators also argue that the creation of a term recognizably derived from actual medical vocabulary helps to differentiate it from the numerous non-scientific buzzwords created by unscrupulous marketers such as weight loss and aphrodisiac scammers.
In the age of modern computing, online technology such as search engines can be quickly employed to assess the type of works containing a suspected neologism for the purpose of determining to what extent the concept in question is established.
References
edit- Timothy Moors, Basic Greek and Latin for understanding science and medicine
See also
edit- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (also known as DSM or DSM-IV)
- Medical terminology