Synonyms in Polish medical terminology at the turn of the 20th century. ReconnaissanceThe paper concerns the phenomenon of synonyms in the medical terminology. On the basis of Słownik terminologii lekarskiej polskiej (Dictionary of Polish Medical Terminology, 1881) and Słownik lekarski polski (Polish Dictionary of Medicine, 1905) the author examines (in terms of a structure, origin and chronology) 88 series of synonyms (regarding illnesses) present in both dictionaries. From the examination it results that during a conscious tiding up and shaping of Polish medical terminology it was impossible to eliminate synonyms, a phenomenon undesired in every terminology. Admittedly, in the Słownik lekarski polski (Polish Dictionary of Medicine, 1905) one may observe a tendency to reduce on the number of synonyms in the series of synonyms and the general number of the series, however, scale of this phenomena is still significant. Even if, till the half of twentieth century, nearly half of series of synonyms did not survive, as it is proven by researches conducted by K. Musiołek-Choinski, phenomena of synonyms could not be eliminated. The old series of synonyms are replaced by new ones, and this situation is greatly affected by English vocabulary.

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The purpose of this article is to present a source that has so far remained unused in the historical research of the Polish chemical terminology of the second half of the 19th century – Słownik terminologii lekarskiej polskiej [English: Polish Medical Terminology Dictionary] of 1881. This dictionary is a result of the efforts which the Polish medical doctors undertook to organise the Polish medical terminology in the 19th century. It also contains chemical terms. What is important, the dictionary demonstrates a phase of competition between two terminology schools: the Cracow school and the Warsaw school, juxtaposing various terms (mainly in synonymic strings) proposed by these schools.

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