Abstract:

Since December 2019, a new type of pneumonia has occurred in China and around the world. In the early stage, multiple names for the disease emerged. Some of these names are inaccurate or even discriminatory, with the potential to adversely affect public opinion and even epidemic prevention and control. Recently, the World Health Organization officially referred to the disease as “COVID-19”, while the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses has proposed naming the virus itself “SARS-CoV-2”. While the establishment of clinical terminology for novel coronavirus is objective and accurate, the nomenclature “SARS-CoV-2” is still controversial. This paper discusses the naming of the virus, the disease and the surrounding controversies from the perspective of naming norms for medical terms, including some discussions of emergency language services. In order to accurately name the virus and disease and avoid misleading the public, we recommend that experts in relevant medical disciplines as well as linguists actively participate in naming this new virus and the disease and put forth their own views in order to facilitate the global public’s accurate understanding of the disease.

Keywords: nomenclature; clinical terminology; emergency language capabilities; language services

摘要：

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情发生前期,出现了多个疾病名称,其中一些不准确甚至带有歧视性的名称给疫情防控和社会舆情带来了不良影响。最近,世界卫生组织（WHO）正式使用“COVID-19”作为疾病名称,同时,国际病毒分类委员会提出“SARS-COV-2”作为病毒名称。COVID-19（2019年冠状病毒肺炎,指新型冠状病毒肺炎）这一医学术语的确立客观、准确,但SARS-COV-2（萨斯相关2型冠状病毒,指新型冠状病毒）的命名目前尚存在较大争议。本文从医学术语的命名规范角度,探讨了此次命名及相关争议,并对应急语言能力展开讨论。为准确界定此次病毒和疾病名称,建议医学相关学科专家与语言学家积极参与对此次新冠疫情术语的命名,以利全球公众正确认识该病毒及疾病。

关键词: 术语命名, 医学术语, 应急语言能力, 语言服务