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Studies in the History of Natural Sciences  2019, Vol. 38 Issue (2): 215-229    DOI:
ARTICLES     
The Occurrence and Evolution of the Translation Dislocation between the Term Pi in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Spleen in Western Medicine
ZHOU Donghao, LIU Guang
Linyi People's Hospital, Shandong Linyi 276000, China;
Institute of Integrative Medicine, Qingdao University Medical College, Shandong Qingdao 266071, China
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Abstract  At the beginning of interactions between Chinese and Western medicine in the late 16th century, Western medicine was unaware that the pancreas was an independent organ and had digestive functions, and mistakenly believed that the spleen did have digestive functions. In the process of translating western medical works, western missionaries translated "spleen" into "pi" in the late Ming Dynasty. More than a hundred years later, Japan's anatomists created the term "cui" to refer to the pancreas. After the Opium Wars of the mid-19th century, the translation of pancreas experienced a shift from "sweet meat" to "yi", and "pi" was always translated into "spleen". At the beginning of the twentieth century, the scientific terminology review committee approved the use of "yi" to designate the pancreas and "pi"the spleen. This translation dislocation between the"pi" of traditional Chinese medicine and the spleen of western medicine was finally determined by official authority and spread into general use. Based on a systematic review of the tortuous understanding of spleen and pancreas in traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine, this paper aims to explore the complex historical reasons for the conceptual confusion in the understanding of the pi of traditional Chinese medicine and the spleen of western medicine today.

Key words： translation      spleen      pancreas      medical history     
Received: 04 April 2018      Published: 18 June 2022
ZTFLH:  R-09  
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ZHOU Donghao
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ZHOU Donghao, LIU Guang. The Occurrence and Evolution of the Translation Dislocation between the Term Pi in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Spleen in Western Medicine. Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2019, 38(2): 215-229.

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http://www.shns.ac.cn/     OR     http://www.shns.ac.cn/Y2019/V38/I2/215

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