Czech and English terminology of health and impaired health in historical, societal and conceptual framework

Abstract

Abstract The present article discusses the terminology of health and impaired health on the platform of present-day medical Czech and medical English against the background of historical developments and current extralinguistic variables. The main objective of this theoretical review is to survey selected issues related to the conceptual-linguistic apparatus of health and ill health in a broader linguistic and social context with an emphasis on Czech and English medical terminologies, respectively. Overall, the content of the article is based on the author’s linguistic and teaching experience and draws on available literature. It principally consorts comparative, historical linguistic and conceptual analysis methodology. Health and impaired health terminology in both the Czech and English languages constitutes a complex nominal-adjectival system reflecting conceptual developments conditioned by institutional, historical and societal factors. The terminology exhibits codification tendencies, as well as partial manifestations of vagueness. Despite their shortcomings, health terminology, centred around a solitary term still lacking an unequivocal definition, and the rich classification-based terminology of impaired health constitute the basis of professional medical communication, undergoing continuous developments and endeavours for enhanced precision.