When medical eponyms become false friends, and how to deal with them

Abstract

Medical eponyms can sometimes function as false friends, endangering communication. We demonstrate this by examining a selection of 50 medical phenomena in 8 languages for which eponyms, simple or complex ones, exist. The vast majority of medical eponyms are true friends. However, we have detected several types of false friends. Eponymic false friends in medical terminology may arise through clipping or truncation of the appellative or of a complex eponymic core. False friends may also come into existence through the confusion caused by auto-hyponymy. Finally, in addition to the choice between eponymic cores of variable complexity, there may also be alternatives that form a set of synonyms. Translation of the latter type of term may result in unwarranted introduction of a pseudo-eponym. This means that terminological variation, synonymy and homonymy—the notorious undesirables in terminology—are the hotbed of the majority of problems that may be described as false–friend relationship. We also suggest some pedagogical strategies that may help mitigate the problem of false friends in MELF contexts. These are based on recent insights from SLA and cognitively oriented research on the phenomenon of false friends, i.e., they integrate affective, cognitive and conative aspects of learning.