Green’s Terminological principles and methods: an analysis on the pioneering work of Scientific Tamil

Abstract

This research paper attempts to provide a details descriptive analysis on the terminological work done by Samuel Fisk Green, an American Medical Missionary as part of the Scientific Tamil initiatives in the nineteenth century in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Green being a foreign or more accurately an alien to Tamil language started to teach western medicine in Tamil at his own Medical College at Manipay and translated medical science related books from European languages into Tamil to enhance medium of instruction and disseminate healthcare information within community. During the translation process he was in need of terminology development on specific terms and he developed terminological principles and methods such as term creation, term formation, paraphrasing, compounding, borrowing, transliteration, derivation and others to use to create accurate and appropriate equivalents that could support beginners to communicate successfully in scientific Tamil language. Thus this descriptive analytical paper provides a details analysis of the significant contribution made by Green on Terminology while providing an indebt insight to the both novice as well as experienced future researchers. Further it will support the policy and strategies concerning scientific Tamil language with the hope of promotion of scientific and technical communication.