#history of medicine

• ab ovo usque ad mala - A Latin phrase from Horace's Satires, literally meaning 'from the egg to the apples' (referring to the traditional course of a Roman banquet). In academic, medical, and psychological contexts, it is used metaphorically to describe an exhaustive, comprehensive, and chronological analysis of a phenomenon, pathology, or individual development, covering the entire spectrum from the absolute origin to the final phase of manifestation.
• ab urbe condita - A Latin phrase meaning literally 'from the founding of the city' (referring to the foundation of Rome in 753 BC). In academic contexts and the history of medical sciences, it is used metaphorically to date or describe an event, institution, or school of thought analyzed right from the official moment of its establishment or fundamental structuring.
• abadesă - The superior of a Roman Catholic monastery of nuns (abbess). In the history of medicine and hospital care, abbesses played a vital role during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, managing monastic infirmaries, organizing care for the poor and sick, and overseeing the preparation of herbal remedies and ointments in monastic pharmacies.
• Abaeus - A Greek mythological epithet assigned to the god Apollo, derived from the town of Abae in Phocis, where the god had a famous temple and oracle. In the history of medicine and cultural anthropology, Abaeus is studied in connection with cathartic (purification) cults and healing rituals through incubation (sacred sleep in the temple to receive a diagnosis in a dream), specific to pre-Hippocratic theurgic medicine.
• abalienare - The act of alienating or the state resulting from it; mental alienation, derangement of the mind, or loss of cognitive psychological faculties. In Latin medical terminology and early neurology textbooks, 'abalienatio mentis' designated a global collapse of intellectual functions, serving as a conceptual predecessor to the modern terms dementia, psychosis, or severe psychic dissociation.
• abalienațiune - An archaic phonetic variant of the noun abalienation (mental alienation, loss of cognitive faculties). Introduced into the Romanian language during the modernization of scientific terminology under Latin-French influence, it was used in early medical academic circles to indicate a state of mental derangement or dementia.
• Abantiades - A Greek mythological patronymic used to denote the descendants of King Abas of Argos, the most famous being Perseus. In the history of medicine, psychoanalysis, and cultural anthropology, the figure of Perseus (Abantiades) and the Medusa myth are studied in connection with the 'Medusa complex' (the symbolism of psychic paralysis caused by fear or trauma) and the apotropaic use of the Gorgon's blood as a dual poisonous or curative remedy.
• Abantiadul - The articulated and Romanianized form of the patronymic Abantiades, directly representing Perseus, the son of Zeus and Danae. In the history of medicine and archetypal psychology, the figure of the Abantiad is interpreted as a symbol of the surgeon or the courageous therapist who uses sharp instruments (the sword metaphor) to symbolically excise the pathological 'monster' or the psychic trauma that petrifies the patient's development.
• Abanul - An extremely rare archaic term attested in old Balkan apocryphal writings or healing manuscripts, denoting the symbolic or demonic personification of an acute febrile illness or a severe muscle spasm. In medieval folk medicine, diseases were frequently labeled with strange proper names (such as Abanul) to facilitate medical exorcism rituals and charms aimed at driving away pain.
• Abaris - A legendary figure in Greek mythology, known as Abaris the Hyperborean, a priest of Apollo, healer, and shaman attested by Pindar and Herodotus. In the history of medicine and anthropology, he is studied as a representative of archaic pre-scientific medical practices (iatromantis), curing epidemics through incantations, exorcisms, and spiritual purification rituals.
• Abas - A legendary king of Argos in Greek mythology, grandfather of Perseus, renowned for his sacred shield endowed with magical powers capable of paralyzing enemies. In the history of medicine, psychoanalysis, and anthropology, the figure of Abas and his dynastic lineage are analyzed in connection with archetypes of somatized fear, where the mythical gaze or shield serves as a metaphor for psychic defense mechanisms inducing motor blocks or hysterical conversion crises.
• Abasizi - Members of the second great dynasty of caliphs who ruled the Islamic Caliphate (750–1258), centered in Baghdad. In the history of medicine, the Abbasid era represents the 'Golden Age' of Islamic medical sciences, characterized by the massive translation movement of Greek texts (Galen, Hippocrates), the founding of the first modern public hospitals (Bimaristan), the development of pharmacy as an independent discipline, and the emergence of illustrious medical encyclopedists such as Avicenna and Rhazes.
• Abason - A rare archaic and mythological term found in medieval superstitions and magic-medical manuscripts of Southern Europe, representing the demonic personification of an acute mental illness or furious delirium. In ancient empirical medicine, severe epileptic seizures or psychotic episodes were often attributed to possession by Abason, with healing attempted through charms, exorcisms, and fumigations with sedative plants.
• abătătoare - An old or regional anatomical term previously used to describe a muscular structure, ligament, or shunt canal that causes a deviation, abduction, or direction change of a physiological flow or a body segment. In early translations of medical textbooks and dissection treatises into Romanian, the word was employed as an equivalent for abductor muscles (which move a limb away from the body's midline).
• abate1 (s.m.) - The superior of a Roman Catholic monastery of monks (abbot). In the history of medicine and hospital care, abbots played a major administrative role during the Middle Ages, coordinating monastic hospitals (xenodochia) and infirmaries attached to abbeys, where pilgrims, the poor, and the sick received care and shelter.
• abațial - Pertaining to an abbey or an abbot; relating to the administrative structures, properties, or charitable institutions managed by a Catholic monastic superior. In the history of public health, abbatial hospitals and infirmaries formed the core of medieval European healthcare, housing the earliest organized pharmacies and medicinal herb gardens.
• abație - A large, autonomous Catholic monastery governed by an abbot or an abbess, often comprising an ensemble of religious and administrative buildings. In the historical evolution of medicine, an abbey functioned as a complex social and hospital care hub, integrating a rudimentary sanitarium, a leprosarium (during epidemics), and early laboratories for distilling medicinal essences.
• abatoriu - An archaic term used as an adjective to describe anything pertaining to, connected with, or originating from a slaughterhouse or an animal slaughter area. In old sanitary regulations and 19th-century hygiene manuals, it was used to define the rules, residues, or taxes associated with livestock slaughtering activities.
• Abazoaia - A term used regionally or historically in the Eastern European area to designate mineral springs, old balneary resorts, or micro-toponyms associated with the therapeutic properties of sulfurous or ferruginous waters. In early medical literature, it refers to such rural locations where patients with rheumatic, respiratory, or dermatological diseases underwent empirical hydrotherapy and balneoclimatology courses prior to the modernization of clinical standards.
• Abazzia - The historical name (frequently used in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, currently Opatija in Croatia) of a renowned balneoclimateric health resort on the Adriatic coast. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was officially declared a 'climatic health resort of curative importance' (Curort), serving as the elite European medical hub where Viennese physicians sent patients for thalassotherapy, pulmonary tuberculosis treatment, post-infectious convalescence, and the relief of neuroses through marine climatotherapy.