Medieval Science, Technology and Medicine

Vocabulary

The language of science, technology, and medicine in the Western Middle Ages was almost exclusively Latin. This article will be limited to the vocabulary of that language, although the influence of Greek and Arabic in these fields was also very strong.

There were various names for the concept of science itself, the most important being ars (art) and scientia (science). The ancient distinction between ars on the one hand, for knowledge of a practical kind, and scientia or disciplina (discipline) on the other, for more theoretical knowledge, was often repeated, but in practice the terms became largely interchangeable. In the early Middle Ages, the sciences were classified according to the four disciplines of the *quadrivium: arithmetica (arithmetic), geometria (geometry), astronomia (astronomy; astrologia was sometimes used for the same science), and musica (music; sometimes called harmonia). The quadrivium formed, with the three disciplines of the trivium (grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric), the seven artes liberales (liberal arts). In later classifications of the sciences, the four disciplines were often grouped with the theoretical sciences under the name mathematica (mathematics) or scientia disciplinalis or doctrinalis. Other sciences were added as scientia subalternata (subalternate science); these included perspectiva (optics), which was considered a part of geometry. The sciences of natural philosophy were called physica (physics) or scientia (philosophia) naturalis. From the discovery and translation of the Aristotelian works onwards, this natural philosophy was divided according to these texts. Thus, meteora (*meteorology) clearly indicated the science described by Aristotle in his book Meteora. The term physiologia was sometimes used for the particular science of physics, but after the entry of Aristotelian science into the university curriculum, and outside the classifications, physica was more usual in this sense. So, physica had at least three meanings: first, it could be the general name for the natural sciences; second, it might indicate the discipline of physics; and third, it could also be used for medicine. Some of the Aristotelian books were designated by the common name parva naturalia (“small books on natural science”). Among them were De sensu et sensato (On sense and sense perception), De somno et vigilia (On sleep and being awake), De memoria and reminiscentia (On memory and reminiscence), De longitudine et brevitate vite (On the length and shortness of life), which would all be within the modern notion of biology, along with Aristotle’s books on the animals and, partly, his De generatione et corruptione (On generation and corruption). *Cosmology was not absent, of course. It was taught on the basis of Aristotle’s De caelo et mundo (On the heaven and the world). In earlier times, the science of describing (parts of) the world was known as cosmimetria or cosmigraphia.

Magic was a very old art—in antiquity the magicae artes were mentioned by for instance Virgil—but it was for a long time excluded from the field of official science. In medieval classifications of the sciences it was often treated at the very end, after the scheme of the other sciences or given a place under the name of scientia illici ta or scientia inutilis (illicit or useless science).

The technical terminology used by the various sciences is too large to be treated here. Some examples will be given from the fields of mathematics and astronomy. The science of mathematics itself was called (ars) mathematica (but this term can also designate all four disciplines of the quadrivium, as described above) or (ars) arithmetica (*arithmetic). The Latin tradition of the works of the Arab scholar *al-Khwarizimi led to the introduction of the word algorismus or alchorismus in the twelfth century. It was used for mathematics in general and implies the “Indian” art of calculation based on the nine ciphers and the zero, in contrast to earlier, traditional systems such as digital calculation. At the same time, the older terms mathematica and arithmetica remained in use, not only for arithmetic with Roman ciphers, but also for arithmetic or calculation with the decimal system. The abacus (calculatory table or reckoning board), used before the introduction of the Indian-Arabic tradition, was not abandoned as an aid to the practical technique of calculating. Masters called abacisti or magistri abaci taught their art in specialized calculus schools. The term *algebra, also introduced in the twelfth century, came from another work by the same Arab mathematician al-Khwarizimi, the “Compendious book on calculation by completion (al-jabr) and balancing.” The word became common only in the sixteenth century. It was used for the technique of solution paradigms for different types of problems, using equations in which the actual numbers were replaced by symbols (for instance ax² = bx). In Latin treatises on arithmetic all kinds of traditional Latin words were used—examples include adulterinus numerus for the difference between a true root and an approximate root—but new words were also introduced, such as cifra (zero), unitaliter (in a manner equal to a unity). The word *computus was used in the general meaning of reckoning or counting, but it had also the specific technical meaning of computation of time and it could name its products: a book containing its rules and methods, or a *calendar.

The terms astronomia and astrologia were both used for the science of the cosmos in general, including astronomy, the science of dimensions and quantities of the celestial orbs and bodies, and *astrology, the study of celestial powers and their effects on the terrestrial region. The modern distinction between the two concepts is also found in certain classical and medieval sources, but generally the two terms were interchangeable throughout the medieval period. One of the well-known instruments of astronomy, the astrolabe or flat disk reproducing the celestial sphere, was first called walzachora, but soon afterwards the terms astrolapsus and astrolabium were introduced. These last two terms were synonymous, but from the end of the eleventh century astrolabium imposed itself. The quadrant was first called quadra astrolabii before the word quadrans came into use. Other instruments for measuring time were the horologium and the horoscopum. The word horologium usually indicates the plate that enables the hour of the day to be read from the position of the Sun, although it sometimes means “astrolabe.” Horoscopum, another instrument that permits clockreading, can also be synonymous with astrolabe, but at the same time it kept its traditional astronomical meaning of “ascendant.” Some Arabic words, through medieval Latin astrolabe treatises, have survived into modern times. These include “zenith,” a term of spherical astronomy, indicating the highest point in the celestial sphere, and its antonym, “nadir.”

Technology

The modern concept of technology is roughly equivalent to the medieval artes mechanicae (mechanical arts). In the early Middle Ages, the seven mechanical arts paralleled the seven liberal arts, and the expression is first found in the ninth century, but their rehabilitation as part of practical science occurred only in the twelfth century, when *Hugh of Saint-Victor included them in his classification of the sciences and defined them as follows: lanificium (fabric-making), armatura (armament and architecture), navigatio (commerce), agricultura (agriculture), venatio (hunting and food), medicina (medicine), and theatrica (theatrics). This scheme was taken over by other authors, with some variations. For instance, commerce was also known as mercatura or negotiatoria, the art of hunting and food was referred to as ars cibativa or ars nutritiva. Although the mechanical arts were sometimes given pejorative labels such as serviles (servile) or adulterinae (adulterous), this does not reflect the general estimation of manual labor or technological progress. Note that alchemy was sometimes, during the thirteenth century, considered a mechanical art and that the term mechanicus was used for alchemists.

Medicine

While medicina (medicine) was sometimes ranked as a mechanical art, generally it was considered a part of natural science and was as such called physica terrestris (“physical science concerning terrestrial or corporeal things”). In some contexts, the term physicus (natural philosopher) became the equivalent of medicus (medical doctor or physician). At university faculties of medicine the discipline was called scientia or facultas medicine, and also physice facultas.

At an early stage, medicine was divided into theorica and practica (theoretical and practical), the first being speculative, the second, sometimes called cirurgia (surgery), based on the application of the theory to physical reality. The two branches were intimately linked, and the distinction was not always easily maintained. For example, the vocabulary of theoretical medicine was used to describe the parts of the body, but that of practical medicine was used to describe the treatment of illnesses.

After the introduction of the Greco-Latin version of *Galen’s treatise on the art of medicine, the term doctrina acquired a special meaning in medical vocabulary. It designated the teaching or organization of science in three steps: dissolutio or resolutio, dissolution by way of analysis; compositio, orderly composition or synthesis of the materials found through analysis; and dissolutio termini or definitionis, the dissolution or decomposition of the definition. This concept of doctrina was also applied to experimental science outside the field of medicine.

Another technical term is ingenium, which acquired a special meaning from the thirteenth century onward. It originated in the Arabo-Latin translation of Galen’s treatise and appears mainly in phrases such as ingenium sanitatis, ingenium sanativum, and ingenium curationis (“methods and tools to reach health”). Two Greek concepts, that of method and that of artifice or device, are expressed by the single Latin word ingenium.

See also Astrolabes and quadrants; Magic and the occult; Optics and catoptrics; Scientia

Bibliography

Allard, A. “La formation du vocabulaire latin de l’arithmétique médiévale.” In Méthodes et instruments du travail intellectuel au moyen âge. Edited by O. Weijers. Turnhout: Brepols, 1990, pp. 137–181.

Clagett, M. The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1961.

Craemer-Ruegenberg, I. and A. Speer, ed. “Scientia” und “ars” im Hoch- und Spätmittelalter. 2 vols. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1994.

Jacquart, D. “L’enseignement de la médecine. Quelques termes fondamentaux.” In Méthodes et instruments du travail intellectuel au moyen âge. Edited by O. Weijers. Turnhout: Brepols, 1990, pp. 104–120.

Poulle, E. “Astrolabium,” “astrolapsus,” “horologium”: enquête sur un vocabulaire. In Science antique, science médiévale. Edited by L. Callebat and O. Desbordes. Hildesheim, Zürich and New York: Olms-Weidmann, 2000: 437–448.

Teeuwen, Mariken. The Vocabulary of Intellectual Life in the Middle Ages. Turnhout: Brepols, 2003.

Weijers, O. L’appellation des disciplines dans les classifications des sciences aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles. Archivum Latinitatis Medii Aevi (1986–1987) 46–47: 39–64.

Weisheipl, J.A. Classification of the Sciences in Medieval Thought. Mediaeval Studies (1965) 27: 54–90.

Whitney, E. Paradise Restored. The Mechanical Arts from Antiquity through the Thirteenth Century. Philadelphia: Transactions 80: 1, 1990.

OLGA WEIJERS

V

Vincent of Beauvais

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Vocabulary

Technology

Medicine

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