Gender, Case, And Plural Forms In Latin Anatomical Terms: Grammar As A Tool For Precision

Abstract

Latin anatomical terminology is more than a historical tradition: it is a controlled linguistic system that encodes meaning through grammatical form. In standardized nomenclature, especially Terminologia Anatomica, Latin remains the reference layer for naming structures and expressing relationships between them. This article examines how three grammatical categories—gender, case, and number—shape the formation and interpretation of Latin anatomical terms, using well-known examples such as vertebra–vertebrae and bacterium–bacteria to illustrate frequent patterns and common sources of misunderstanding. A qualitative morphological–grammatical analysis was applied to representative Latin terms and multiword collocations in anatomical nomenclature and in contemporary medical discourse where nonassimilated Latin phrases preserve agreement and inflection. The results show that gender governs adjective agreement and stabilizes term structure; case endings encode part–whole and specification relations (most prominently through the genitive); and plural formation follows declensional logic that is highly regular yet capable of producing ambiguity when identical forms serve different functions. The discussion highlights practical implications for teaching, translation, and documentation accuracy, arguing that grammatical literacy is essential for safe and standardized anatomical communication.