Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on words and phrases from four main lexical fields, namely terms for body parts, sicknesses, instruments and medicinal preparations, and covers much work certainly remains to be done in other areas of contemporary medical vocabulary. It presents result from substantial refashioning during the Early Modern English period from their Middle English precursors. Inspite of the close affinity between the medical books printed between 1476 and 1550 and late Middle English manuscripts dealing with similar topics, the period 1375-1550 may be said to form a logical continuum for the observation of developments in English medical vocabulary. The book provide users with a research tool that will help them in the interpretation of the multifarious special terms that crop up in medieval medical manuscripts, many of them peculiar to a single author.