Profesorius Petras Avižonis – terminologas

Birutė BRIAUKIENĖ Vytautas Magnus University of Kaunas PROFESSOR PETRAS AVIŽONIS – A TERMINOLOGIST Petras Avižonis (1875–1939) – žymiausias XX a. pradžios lietuvių oftalmologas. Be tiesioginio gydytojo, mokslininko ir praktiko, darbo jis aktyviai prisidėjo prie bendrinės lietuvių kalbos kūrimo ir norminimo. P. Avižonis jautė pareigą rūpintis gimtosios kalbos reikalais. Jis kūrė lietuviškus medicinos terminus, dalyvavo Terminologijos komisijos darbe, priklausė Lietuvių kalbos draugijai (1), pats rodė taisyklingos lietuvių kalbos pavyzdį. Prof. P. Avižonis entered the history of the Lithuanian language as: 1) the compiler of a short Lithuanian grammar (“Lietuviška gramatikėlė” [A Little Lithuanian Grammar], 1899, 64 pp.); 2) a creator of Lithuanian medical terms; 3) the author of the first Lithuanian textbook on eye diseases of international significance (“Akių ligų vadovas” [A Guide to Eye Diseases], 1939, 815 pp., 1241 illustrations). P. Avižonis carried out this work while constantly feeling the friendly support of J. Jablonskis, the father of standard Lithuanian, and J. Balčikonis, a champion of the Lithuanian language. In addition to his responsible work as a physician, P. Avižonis constantly concerned himself with establishing standard Lithuanian, raising the level of language culture, and keeping abreast of developments in linguistics. He himself knew his native language well and set an example of correct Lithuanian in his writings. His colleagues recognized this, too. In 1922, while popularizing medical and hygiene knowledge, Dr. K. Grinius published a list of Lithuanian medical books. In the “Eye Diseases” section of this list, these three booklets by P. Avižonis were mentioned: 1. Dr-as P. Avižonis. Trachoma. Vilnius, 1909. 8 pp.; 2. Dr-as P. Avižonis. Aklumas ir trachoma Lietuvoje. Vilnius, 1912. 12 pp.; 3. Dr-as P. Avižonis. Kova su trachoma. Raseiniai, 1920. 11 pp. Beneath them was added K. Grinius’s comment: “All of Dr. P. Avižonis’s printed works are clearly and seriously written.” By contrast, for example, beside Dr. A. L. Graičiūnas’s booklet “Užkrečiamųjų-limpamųjų ligų plėtimo būdai ir kova su jomis” (Wilkes-Barre, 1912, 27 pp.) K. Grinius had written: “the language is rather difficult” (3). In 1920, a Lithuanian journal, “Medicina,” began publication. The fir- 111 st editor was Dr. J. Staugaitis. The most prominent physicians of the time published original articles, reviews, and reports in the journal: Prof. P. Avižonis, Dr. J. Brundza, Dr. K. Grinius, Dr. V. Kairiūkštis, Assoc. Prof. V. Kuzma, Prof. V. Lašas, Assoc. Prof. P. Mažylis, Dr. M. Nasvytis, Dr. J. Staugaitis, Dr. V. Tumėnienė, Dr. J. Žemgulys, and many others. The articles by P. Avižonis published here are important for understanding the development of Lithuanian medical terminology. P. Avižonis often expressed dissatisfaction with the poor language of Lithuanian publications and the nation’s intelligentsia. In issue No. 3 of the journal “Medicina” in 1922, P. Avižonis published an article entitled “Matters Concerning the Requirements of the State Examination Program for the Degree of Physician.” There he says that, in the programs for subjects outside his specialty, he corrected only the language: “In preparing the program, I tried to include as many proper Lithuanian terms as possible. J. Jablonskis helped enormously in this respect, and I offer him my heartfelt thanks here. All the terms went through his review.” For some medical concepts, P. Avižonis proposed several terms, for example: blood-conveying vessels, blood-circulating vessels, and blood vessels; digestibility and digestibility [alternative terms]; foreign objects and foreign bodies. P. Avižonis goes on to explain that margojį šiltinę and atokrintinę šiltinę are words coined by country people: the first by a woman from Suvalkija, from Šakiai, and the second by a soldier from Kupiškis. Let these terms, on J. Jablonskis’s advice, compete with those invented by physicians, and let one or the other take hold. In addition, in this article P. Avižonis recommends using the medical term venerinės ligos, rather than Veneros ligos, because Venus was “a purely healthy goddess.” In place of the term sužalojimai used by lawyers, J. Jablonskis advised using the term pakenkimai. The medical term ūminė liga is proposed because sudden death may result from an acute illness. Here P. Avižonis also reminds readers that intellectuals say and write many nonsensical things, and that the widespread use of a word is no argument that the word is good. The professor also agrees with J. Jablonskis’s proposal to change some terms that were “unnaturally coined” and had taken root in medical usage (4). On March 18, 1923, the council of the University of Lithuania, of which Prof. P. Avižonis was also a member, decided to require applicants seeking admission to the University of Lithuania to know Lithuanian. It specified that those who had completed secondary schools in languages other than Lithuanian would be required to take an examination in the Lithuanian language 112 the examination in Lithuanian schools or at the University itself, before the language examination commission. The commission will consider a student sufficiently proficient in Lithuanian only if he can converse fluently in Lithuanian and recount a Lithuanian scholarly article selected by the commission (2). Prof. P. Avižonis was demanding not only about the language of students, but also that of colleagues and family members. Once, while opposing a professor, P. Avižonis delivered a highly scholarly presentation. There he pointed out not only scholarly shortcomings in the dissertation, but also questioned the bibliography and even the existence of some of the books mentioned. Finally, he pointed out punctuation errors in the dissertation. When questioning students, P. Avižonis required brief and precise answers. “Dr. P. Avižonis took care that the members of his family spoke correctly. When he heard them make a mistake, he corrected it at once,” his daughter-in-law Angelė Avižonienė still recalls today. As a physician, P. Avižonis met patients from various parts of Lithuania. He especially liked listening to their accounts of illnesses and ailments, hoping to hear new words, expressions, or terms. Terms for eye diseases were especially useful to him. Whenever he heard an unusual or interesting word, P. Avižonis would immediately write it down on a slip of paper, as J. Jablonskis had taught him. He had been collecting words for some time. In the second volume of the Juškos dictionary, published in 1904, P. Avižonis was mentioned (“In the Afterword”) among the 22 people who had directly helped prepare the dictionary. Prof. J. Balčikonis also named P. Avižonis, a doctor from Pasvalys, among the 857 word collectors when publishing the “Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language” in 1940. P. Avižonis’s greatest contribution to the language was his work to develop Lithuanian medical terminology. First and foremost, he was concerned with establishing terms for diseases of the eyes and ears. As early as 1920, while working at the Military Sanitary Department, P. Avižonis took part in the work of the Terminology Commission. He was an active member of the commission, diligently attended meetings, and had his own views on language matters. When necessary, he consulted J. Jablonskis and J. Balčikonis. But the Ministry of Education dissolved the Terminology Commission headed by J. Jablonskis, entrusting its work to the University of Lithuania. On 1926 12 29, the University Terminology Commission was formed, with P. Avižonis, S. Šalkauskis, and J. Balčikonis appointed to serve on it. P. Avižonis objected to the Ministry of Education’s thoughtless dissolution of the old 113 commission and, questioning whether the University faculties would be interested in the organization and creation of terminology, declared that such work was altogether impossible without J. Jablonskis, the sole specialist in this field. For this reason, on 1927 01 06, Prof. P. Avižonis resigned from his post as a member of the Terminology Commission, thereby giving J. Jablonskis at least moral support (5). In 1925, at the Kaunas Medical Society, Dr. J. Staugaitis delivered a presentation on Lithuanian medical terminology. There he noted that specialists in other professions were organizing the terminology of their fields, while physicians had not even begun to do so, and the lack of terms was felt every day. It was therefore proposed to collect terms from medical books and newspapers and submit them for review to the State Terminology Commission. After that, the terms would be printed in “Lietuva” and “Medicina” for public criticism and comments. Later, after reconsidering the terms, the State Terminology Commission would approve and publish them. P. Avižonis then proposed forming a Medical Terms Collection Commission, and one was elected. Dr. J. Staugaitis was elected its chair, and its members were Dr. J. Brundza, representing the Kaunas Medical Society, and Prof. V. Lašas, representing the Faculty of Medicine. One hundred litas from the funds of the Kaunas Medical Society were allocated for making small cards (6). Later, the following article by the Medical Terminology Commission was published in “Medicina”: “The need to have our own medical terms has long been overdue. We have our own medical newspaper, a medical school, and a Faculty of Medicine where medicine is taught in Lithuanian, yet we have no medical terms of our own. It is true that there are many terms, perhaps even too many, since, for example, a single “cellula” has at least several – ląstelė, narvelis, akutė—but we have too few terms that are universally recognized and accepted. Thus, at last we must emerge from the existing chaos of terminology by selecting the most suitable from among those now proposed and coining the terms that are still lacking. Therefore, the Terminology Commission appeals to all Lithuanian physicians, asking them to write down medical terms already known and newly heard, especially those heard from rural people, and send them to the Terminology Commission. It is best to write the terms on separate cards together with their Latin and, if possible, German names, and to indicate in which region each term was heard” (7). The Terminology Commission consistently pursued its goal of achieving it as quickly as possible 114 to have good medical terms. Therefore, articles on medical terminology regularly appeared in the journal “Medicina.” In 1925, an article by the physician M. Kuprevičia of Žagarė, “Cell or Little Cell?”, was published in issues 9–10 of “Medicina.” It states that in medical writing “cellula” is called by various names—ląstele and narveliu. Akutė, akelė, akytė are rarely used anymore. The author substantiates his view and proposes using only ląstelę, as Elisonas, Brundza, Matulevičius, and others do. Thus, P. Avižonis, recognizing the need for Lithuanian medical terminology, began to work actively in this field. His early articles still contain such medical terms as čiepai (= skiepai), gydymo metodžiai (= metodai), kalbamosios gydytojo valandos (= gydytojo darbo valandos), ligonbutis (= ligoninė), objektyvinė būtis (= objektyvumas), tuberkulozas (= tuberkuliozė), and so on. Until approximately the end of the third decade of the twentieth century, P. Avižonis used many Lithuanianized international words in his works, mainly from Latin and Greek, still not finding Lithuanian equivalents for them, for example: akkomodacija, atseparuojama oda, celė, ciliakūnis, divergent iški spinduliai, enukleuoti, evisceruoti, fissura, fokusas, iris, kripta, koloboma, konjunktyva, kornea, presbyopia, refrakcija, retina, skarifikacija, sklera, and others. For example, in 1924 P. Avižonis wrote in “Medicina” as follows: The following were observed: the posterior corneal endothelium; Hassal-Henkle warts in the endothelium; blood circulation in vessels remaining in the corneal stroma after parenchymatous keratitis; folds and tears in Descemet’s membrane; senile corneal degeneration (gerontoxon); discontinuous zones of the normal lens; embryonic sutures of the adult lens; physiological remnants of the pupillary membrane; precipitates in iridocyclitis; traumatic prolapse of the vitreous into the anterior chamber, etc. Observing the ongoing process of standardizing the Lithuanian language, P. Avižonis revised and improved the medical terms he used in his writings. They continued to be changed until they attained what the author considered their most perfect form. For example: whitish part of the eye – white of the eye, 115 uppermost eyelid – upper eyelid, blakstienai – eyelashes, conjunctiva – conjunctiva – conjunctival membrane, anterior leaflet – anterior chamber – anterior chamber, vyzis – vyziukas – pupil. As early as the 1929 article “Age-Related Changes in the Eyes,” we find many good medical terms coined by P. Avižonis, for example: gyslainė (chorioidea), odena (sclera), ragena (cornea), rainelė (iris), sniegulės (synchysis scintilans), stiklakūnis (corpus vitrum), šmšuliukai (muscae voluntantes), vyzdys (pupilla). Most of the medical terms coined by Prof. P. Avižonis, however, are found in his most valuable work, “A Handbook of Eye Diseases” (hereafter ALV). The textbook is intended for medical students and physicians. It brings together the practical experience and guidance accumulated by the professor over his lifetime. Even today, this work is of great value to ophthalmology and linguistics. ALV provides a clear picture of the development and use of ophthalmological and other medical terminology. 1. ALV uses mainly Lithuanianized international medical terms. They are most often used without explanation (a), or are explained using international medical terms from Latin and Greek (b), as well as Lithuanian equivalents (c). For example: a) <...> when ocular balance is impaired, decentered glasses are prescribed instead of a combination of prisms (ALV 66); There are special cryocauters (ALV 38); The principles of those images underlie keratoscopy, ophthalmometry, and phacometry (ALV 68); <...> the edges of the glass are attached to the forehead, cheek, and nose with leukoplast, collodion, or mastisol (ALV 39); b) <...> epithelial regeneration begins (ulcus regressivum) (ALV 339); quartz lamp (ophthalmia electrica) (ALV 15); <...> eye disorders occur in neurasthenia (asthenopia nervosa) (ALV 17); surgical diathermy (electrocoagulatio) (ALV 41); c) Glasses are devices for image fusion (binocular vision) (ALV 58); Parasitic eye lesions occur through ectogenic infection (ALV 15); Ametropia, farsightedness (ALV 73); Myopia or nearsightedness (ALV 73); Emetropic (normal-sighted) eye (ALV 74); Erosion or abrasion (ALV 377). 116 2. P. Avižonis used somewhat fewer international medical terms—most often words from Latin and Greek. They were used as titles of textbook chapters, sections, paragraphs, and parts. Here, international medical terms are used without explanation (a), explained by other international words (b), or explained by Lithuanian equivalents (c). For example: a) A. Keratitis (ALV 335); B. Traumata cornea (ALV 375); 1. Corpus alienum cornea (ALV 375); 2. Erosio corneae (ALV 377); 3. Vulnus corneae (ALV 378); 4. Combustio corneae (ALV 379); 5. Contusio corneae (ALV 380); D. Pigmentatio corneae (ALV 385); E. Dystrophiae corneae (ALV 386); F. Ectasiae corneae (ALV 392); G. Tumores corneae (ALV 398); H. Anomaliae congenitae corneae (ALV 399); A. Nervus opticus (ALV 572); II. Neuritis nervi optici (ALV 580); A. Neuritis intraocularis s. papillitis (ALV 580); B. Pseudoneuritis (ALV 581); C. Neuritis retrobulbaris (ALV 581); a. Neuritis retrobulbaris acuta (ALV 582); b. Neuritis retrobulbaris chronica (ALV 584); b) Scrofulous conjunctivitis (phlyctenular conjunctivitis) (ALV 303); rosacea of the conjunctiva (rosacea conjunctivitis) (ALV 312); erythema exsudativum multiforme (herpes iris conjunctivae) (ALV 313); suppuration (ulceration) (ALV 337); tuberculous keratitis (interstitial tuberculous keratitis) (ALV 361); zonular opacity of the cornea (s. fascicularis) (ALV 391); c) Hemeralopia (night blindness) (ALV 147); Nyctalopia (night blindness) (ALV 148); Opacitates cicatriceae corneae (corneal scar opacities) (ALV 380); Cataracta zonularis s. perinuclearis (lamellar cataract) (ALV 488); Iris, the iris (ALV 408). 117 Corpus ciliare, the ciliary body (ALV 411); Membrana limitans interna—an unstructured, homogeneous membrane (ALV 411). 3. Alongside fewer Lithuanianized or international medical terms, in ALV Professor P. Avižonis used Lithuanian medical terms. He most often explained and clarified them with Latin and Greek terms (a), somewhat less often with Lithuanian words (b), and very rarely with German words (c). For example: a) Plano-convex (planconvex) and plano-concave (planconcav) lenses (ALV 59); artificial eye (prothesis ocularis) (ALV 47); protective eye patch, namely monoculus (ALV 39); cold burns (cryotherapia) (ALV 38); marginal parts of the eyelids (pars marginalis conjunctivae)... (ALV 249); blood vessels (vasa ciliaria) (ALV 414); b) During the war, pinhole glasses with perforated plates (perforated glasses) can substitute for <...> (ALV 62); compresses (ALV 26); concave, or inward-curved, lenses (ALV 56); convex, or outward-curved, lenses (ALV 54); c) For protection against ultraviolet rays, there are yellow (Fienzal), reddish (euphos), yellowish-green (Hallauer), and colorless (ultrasin) lenses of varying degrees of darkness (ALV 59); contact lenses, blown (Muller) or lathe-cut (Zeiss) (ALV 61). In addition to those used earlier, ALV contains many medical terms newly coined or selected by P. Avižonis, for example: akilaukis, aklagimis, degint uvas, didžakumas, draikena, draikymas(is), drumstis, drumstėjimas, drumstynė, drumstumas, drumlėjimas, drumzlinumas, dvejėjimas, dvejinimasis, garintuvas, gyslainė, glaustiniai (light rays), įdubieji, įgaubtiniai, išgaubtiniai, iškylieji (lenses), juslė, juslumas, kaitintuvas, krumplynas, mažakumas, paž aida, plėtrėjimas, pragula, prakaitinimas, senažiūr umas, skleistiniai (light rays), šviesolauža, šuteklis, tapnukas, tinklainė, tinklažiūris, tinklažiūr umas, toliniai (glasses), traiškymas, traškana, trūki ažiūris, trūki ažiūr umas, tvarstas, tvartis, tvartumas, užkratas. These terms were not coined all at once. The author created, revised, improved, and changed them, spending considerable time and even money in the process—the Faculty of Medicine deducted about 8,000 litas from Professor P. Avižonis’s fee (10,000 Lt) to cover the printer’s losses caused by the revisions (8). “A Guide to Eye Diseases” can be compared with the world’s best 118 ophthalmology textbooks. For us Lithuanians, it is valuable also for the Lithuanian medical terminology that the author created and refined throughout his life. In V. Lašas’s words, it is a synthesis of pedagogical and scholarly work (9). With great care and dedication, Prof. P. Avižonis gathered material for the “Guide to Eye Diseases,” selected the illustrations, wrote it, and checked the printing. He seemed to sense that his most substantial and final work would be a monument, and so spared neither effort, time, nor energy in perfecting it (10). However, P. Avižonis did not live to see and take pleasure in his book. In accordance with the author’s instructions, given shortly before his death, the index, list of prescriptions, and table of contents were prepared by his son, Vytautas Avižonis, senior assistant physician at the Eye Clinic. Other branches of medicine may envy Avižonis’s ophthalmological terminology, because the terms are properly formed. This is because the most important source for Prof. P. Avižonis’s terminology was the vernacular. Received 1998 10 01 Literatūra 1. Zinkevičius Z. Lietuvių kalbos istorija. V., 1984. T. 5. P. 165. 2. Lietuvių kalbos mokėjimas // Medicina. 1923. Nr. 3–4. P. 183. 3. Grinius K. Medicinos ir higienos žinių popularizacija lietuvių tarpe // Medicina. 1922. Nr. 6. P. 315–325. 4. Avižonis P. Valstybinių egzaminų gydytojo laipsniui programos reikalų // Medicina. 1922. Nr. 3. P. 136–137. 5. Piročkinas A. Petras Avižonis // Mūsų kalba. 1975. Nr. 4. P. 61–66. 6. Staugaitis J. Lietuvių medicinos terminologijos reikalu // Medicina. 1925. Nr. 3–4. P. 273. 7. Susirūpinkime medicinos terminais // Medicina. 1925. Nr. 3–4. P. 129–130. 8. Puzinas J. Petras Avižonis. Čikaga, 1979. P. 205. 9. Lašas V. Med. dr. P. Avižonis kaip universiteto profesorius // Medicina. 1940. Nr. 4. P. 264–270. 10. Marcinkus J. A. a. prof. P. Avižonis okulistas–oftalmologas // Medicina. 1940. Nr. 4. P. 259–264. 119