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somatologie

English translation: Anatomy and physiology


GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Czech term or phrase:somatologie
English translation:Anatomy and physiology
Entered by: Dylan Edwards
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11:24 Sep 4, 2009Login or register (free) for more options.
Czech to English translations [PRO]
Medical - Medical (general) / school subject
Czech term or phrase: somatologie
as a school subject.

This is one of the subjects listed on a school certificate
(Středn� zdravotnick� �kola - Vysvědčen� - Hodnocen� za prvn� ročn�k).

Please can you let me know what this school subject includes? Anatomy and physiology, perhaps?
"Somatology" is not a very familiar word in English - in fact my first impression was that it isn't an English word at all.
It's from the Greek soma meaning "body", but that in itself doesn't tell me much. Contradictory definitions for the word "somatology" can be found online (study of the properties of matter; a branch of anthropology concerned with the study of physical types).
Dylan Edwards
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:57
Anatomy and physiology
Explanation:
I think your idea to use "Anatomy and physiology" is pretty much on target. There certainly are lots of university courses which go by this name.

But I see why you asked - it's very difficult to authoritatively determine whether "somatology" is a real English word or not, seeing that the internet is so full of questionable material nowadays.
Selected response from:

Samuel Hunt
Germany
Local time: 20:57
Grading comment
Thank you. I think you're right, not many native English-speakers would understand "somatology". The names of all the other subjects are absolutely clear and simple, and the word "somatology" would be out of place in such a list.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4somatology
Prokop Vantuch
3Anatomy and physiology
Samuel Hunt


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Anatomy and physiology


Explanation:
I think your idea to use "Anatomy and physiology" is pretty much on target. There certainly are lots of university courses which go by this name.

But I see why you asked - it's very difficult to authoritatively determine whether "somatology" is a real English word or not, seeing that the internet is so full of questionable material nowadays.


Samuel Hunt
Germany
Local time: 20:57
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you. I think you're right, not many native English-speakers would understand "somatology". The names of all the other subjects are absolutely clear and simple, and the word "somatology" would be out of place in such a list.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
somatology


Explanation:
All my medical dictionaries show somatologie as somatology.

Here you can see a lost of final exam topics for medical high schools: http://zis.naskok.cz/somatologie
In fact you're right - it includes anatomy and physiology, but not as detailed as the university subjects.

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Note added at 7 mins (2009-09-04 11:32:23 GMT)
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In Czech somatology is sometimes referred to as "tělověda".

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Note added at 21 hrs (2009-09-05 08:54:59 GMT)
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I see what you mean, Dylan. You're the native speaker and you know much better what is common in English and what is not yet. On the other hand we all know that English is adopting more and more terms from other languages and is very flexible. And especially in the medical field the similarity between the Latin and English terms is very common.
Concerning the word somatology, I like the explanations of the origin here: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/somatology and here: http://www.myetymology.com/english/somatology.html

Prokop Vantuch
Czech Republic
Local time: 20:57
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in CzechCzech
PRO pts in category: 16
Notes to answerer
Asker: Your link gives me a good idea of the topics covered. I'm afraid I just think the dictionaries are copying each other, perpetuating this word "somatology".


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Rad Graban: http://www.stedmans.com/section.cfm/45
16 mins
agree  Maria Chmelarova
1 hr
agree  liz askew: http://www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_hl_dorlands_split.j...
3 hrs
agree  seraalice
8 hrs
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