Medical terminology in new age Serbia: over 150 years of existence

Abstract

The marking of the anniversary in 2022 was
of great importance for medical terminology in Serbia. After
the first, short-lived institutionalization in the Društvo srpske
slovesnosti in 1842 this topic became part of the work assignments
and activities of an institution, for the second time.
This time it was for the Serbian Medical Society (SMS) right
after its foundation in 1872. Every randomness in this area
was disabled by very clear and precise attitudes established
by the first Constitution of SMS. In this area of our medical
science, besides founders and first members of SMS, the
special place belongs to physicians Jovan Stejic, Milan Jovanovic-
Batut, Radivoje Pavlovic, Aleksandar Kostic, Aleksandar
Belic, and others.
Nowadays, medical terminology is no longer a part of
the Constitution of the SMS. It is not yet clear how this happened,
nor who, if any, other institution, has taken this huge
obligation and responsibility for the development, improvement,
and maintenance of medical terminology in the Serbian
language. Its creation needs the cooperation of professionals
from different walks of education, first of all, physicians
and experts in the Serbian language, because it is a matter of
foundation, almost identity values. It is necessary to make
proper terms and interpret them precisely. The absence of this
inevitably leads, not only to a standstill, but collapsing of the
already achieved that would instead of enriching only impoverish
the Serbian language.