The Life Work of Jozo Marević: Published an Eight-Language Encyclopedic Medical Dictionary

An impressive dictionary, encompassing 50 thousand medical words and terms, spanning 3180 pages, printed on “biblical” paper, is a unique book in the world. In addition to Latin and Esperanto, the terms in the dictionary by Prof. Dr. Sc. Jozo Marević have been translated into five other world languages, among which Croatian carries the burden of explaining the meanings of words. This is the life work of this philologist, lexicographer, translator, and editor, for which he required over 12 thousand working hours and 10 years of his life.

– While working on the dictionary, I insisted on linguistic equality. In this dictionary, Latin leads, and all other languages follow – said the author, emphasizing that for better mutual understanding, medicine should still retain the use of the Latin language, while all other accompanying documents could be written in the native languages of medical professionals.

The eight-language encyclopedic medical dictionary was completed by Marević in retirement, and at the presentation of this valuable book in the conference hall of Poliklinika Sunce, he explained why a philologist decided to write such a valuable work in the field of medicine.

– Believe me, I sometimes ask myself that too. The medical profession, with all its sciences, is the most humanitarian science. As long as there are humans, it will always encounter new challenges, new diseases, new viruses. In today’s medicine, in its documentation, there is linguistic disorder, confusion, and chaos. Over time, more and more doctors have inadequately learned Latin. Therefore, they write diagnoses in their own or “foreign” language. For example, in Japan, German is mainly used for writing medical documentation. Here, anglicisms are introduced almost daily, which is completely unnecessary. Many claim that the English language will replace Latin in medicine. Reflecting on this, I concluded that the English language will never completely replace the Latin language – says the man whom his high school students in Novska, including today’s doctor of medicine, Magistra Jelena Jurić, called “Latinac”.

– We all called him “Latinac” because our professor Marević is inseparable from the Latin language. To all of us in Novska, he was a role model, a true pedagogue and intellectual, and we, who aspired to higher education, knew that without knowledge of the Latin language, we had no chance of succeeding in the academic world in Zagreb – said Dr. Jurić about the professor.

– Biomedicine encompasses a range of professions, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, medicine… In them work experts who were educated in Latin. This dictionary is intended precisely for them, and it will be of great benefit to numerous students, undergraduates, doctoral candidates, and foreign experts, with whom we often exchange experiences – said Primarius Mladen Bušić, director of the Sveti Duh hospital in Zagreb.

– Most importantly, this encyclopedic dictionary is a special contribution to strengthening the meaning and use of the Latin language in medical science – added Bušić. Cardiologist Miro Bregovac, who worked as an advisor on the book, also congratulated the author. Bušić greeted Marević by quoting:

– A man in life awaits several important things: to create a home, to plant a tree, and to write a book. I don’t know if he planted a tree, but Jozo has written eight – said Bušić.

– In the Dubrovnik Republic, a young man could not marry if he had not planted three olive trees – replied the author of the eight-language encyclopedic medical dictionary unique in the world, whose company at the presentation, but also in the daily ritual of drinking coffee before continuing to write the book, was always provided by his wife.