Abstract

JAIME RUIZ, Pilar de  and  JAIME LOREN, José María de. Presence of the word "psychiatry" in the dictionaries and in the Spanish press (1855-1900). Rev. Asoc. Esp. Neuropsiq. [online]. 2019, vol.39, n.135, pp.67-90.  Epub Nov 11, 2019. ISSN 2340-2733.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/s0211-57352019000100005.

This paper shows the results of a study carried out on the introduction of the word "psychiatry" in Spanish dictionaries, both in conventional ones and in those specialized in medicine. One of the goals of this work is to know the possible origin of the term, the changes of meaning that has experienced over the years and its late presence in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. It also traces the presence of this word in the Spanish press of the second half of the nineteenth century, both in the political or cultural press and in the medical and scientific one. There is evidence that it took a long time for the term "psychiatry" to be incorporated into the professional and general vocabulary. In 1861, the word "psychiatry" appeared for the first time in a medical journal, but it was not until the last decade of the nineteenth century that it was commonly found in the Spanish journalistic literature. We would like to emphasize the frequency with which it shows up in texts about civil responsibilities of people with mental disorders.

Keywords : history of psychiatry; psychiatry and dictionaries; psychiatry and medical journalism; psychiatry and political journalism; psychiatry and jurisprudence.

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