International Scientific Vocabulary (or ISV) is a form of vocabulary comprising scientific words whose language of origin may or may not be certain, but which are in current use in several modern languages among scientists. The name "International Scientific Vocabulary" was first used by Philip Gove in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1961).^[1] As noted by Crystal,^[2] science is an especially productive field for new coinages. 1888 advertisement for Websters Dictionary Websters Dictionary is the common title given to English language dictionaries in the United States, derived from American lexicographer Noah Webster. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ...

According to Webster's Third, "some ISV words (like haploid) have been created by taking a word with a rather general and simple meaning from one of the languages of antiquity, usually Latin and Greek, and conferring upon it a very specific and complicated meaning for the purposes of modern scientific discourse." An ISV word is typically a compound or a derivative which "gets only its raw materials, so to speak, from antiquity." Its morphology may vary across languages. Haploid (meaning simple in Greek) cells have only one copy of each chromosome. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

The online version of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (Merriam-Webster, 2002)^[3] adds that an ISV neologism is "a part of the vocabulary of the sciences and other specialized studies that consists of words or other linguistic forms current in two or more languages and differing from New Latin in being adapted to the structure of the individual languages in which they appear." ^[4] In other words, ISV terms are often made with Greek, Latin, or other combining forms, but each language pronounces the resulting neo-lexemes within its own phonemic "comfort zone," and makes morphological connections using its normal morphological system.

McArthur^[5] characterizes ISV words and morphemes as "translinguistic", explaining that they operate "in many languages that serve as mediums for education, culture, science, and technology." Besides European languages, such as Russian, Swedish, English, and Spanish, ISV lexical items also function in Japanese, Malay, Filipino, and other Asian languages. McArthur contends that no other set of words and morphemes is so international.

The ISV is one of the concepts behind the development and standardization of Interlingua. Most scientific and medical terms in Interlingua are of Greco-Latin origin, and like most Interlingua words, they appear in a wide range of languages. Interlingua's vocabulary is established using a group of control languages selected because they radiate words into, and absorb words from, a large number of other languages. A prototyping technique then selects the most recent common ancestor of each eligible Interlingua word or affix. The word or affix takes a contemporary form based on the control languages. This procedure is meant to give Interlingua the most generally international vocabulary possible.^[6] Interlingua is an international auxiliary language (IAL) published in 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). ...

References

1. ^ McArthur, Tom (editor), The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press, 1992.
2. ^ Crystal, David, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 1995.
3. ^ The online version is available by subscription.
4. ^ "International scientific vocabulary." Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. Accessed July 11, 2006.
5. ^ McArthur, Tom, "Asian Lexicography: Past, Present, and Prospective", Lexicography in Asia (Introduction). Password Publishers Limited, 1998. Accessed January 17, 2007.
6. ^ Gode, Alexander, Interlingua: A Dictionary of the International Language. New York: Storm Publishers, 1951.

The Interlingua-English Dictionary (IED), developed by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA) and published by Storm Publishers in 1951, is the first Interlingua dictionary. ...

See also

• Interlingua
• Combining form
• Classical compound
• Binomial nomenclature
• List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names
• Medical terminology
• List of medical roots
• Medical Prefixes, Suffixes, and Combining Forms
• Medical dictionary
• Greek and Latin roots
• List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents
• Latin nouns
• Latin verbs
• List of Latin words with English derivatives
• List of Greek words with English derivatives
• Latinisation

Interlingua is an international auxiliary language (IAL) published in 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). ... A combining form is a form of a word used for combining with other words or other combining forms to make new words. ... A large portion of the technical and scientific lexicon of English and other Western European languages consists of classical compounds. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... This is a list of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names is intended to help those unfamiliar with classical languages understand and remember the scientific names of organisms. ... Medical terminology is a process of accurately describing the human body and associated components, conditions, processes and procedures in a science based manner. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Medical Prefixes, Suffixes, and Combining Forms. ... [edit] A [edit] B [edit] C [edit] D [edit] E [edit] F [edit] G [edit] H [edit] I [edit] K [edit] L [edit] M [edit] N [edit] O [edit] P [edit] Q [edit] R [edit] S [edit] T [edit] U [edit] V [edit] X [edit] Y [edit] Z [edit] See... Medical Dictionary is a lexicon for words used in medicine. ... The following is an alphabetical list of Greek and Latin roots commonly used in English uced in Medicine and Medical Terminology are not listed here but instead in Wikipedias List of medical roots. ... This list contains Germanic elements of the English language which have a close corresponding Latinate form. ... The Latin nouns in this list are given first in the nominative case and then in the genitive (the latter of which yields all of the oblique forms). ... This list of Latin verbs includes all four principal parts (three in the case of deponent verbs, semi-deponent verbs, and certain passives) of the verbs in this order (all are 1st person, singular, active, indicative): 1- present 2- infinitive 3- past perfect 4- passive perfect participle. ... This is a list of Latin words with derivatives in English (and other modern languages). ... This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. ... In literature, latinisation is the practice of writing a name in a Latin style when writing in Latin so as to more closely emulate Latin authors, or to present a more impressive image. ...

External links

• Glossary of Roots of Botanical Names
• Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
• List of Latin Words with Derivatives to English
• Some classical Greek and Latin roots