Explains how a Latin prescription (receptum) is built, from the patient and doctor details through the Recipe instruction, the listed medicines and the pharmacist's directions to the patient's label. It sets out the genitive and accusative rules used in prescriptions, a table of dose forms, and the naming pattern for acids, salts and oxides, with dentistry examples. A table of common abbreviations such as Rp., Misce, aa and t.i.d. is included, followed by two worked prescriptions with their patient directions.
Topic 13 of 23 in the MU Sofia syllabus for Latin (Medicine, Year 1). The free AceMed note covers it in 6 sections, about 231 words (3 min of reading), with 15 flashcards.
In this note
Parts of a prescription (receptum)
Grammar of the prescription
Dose forms
Chemical names
Common abbreviations
Examples
Parts of a prescription (receptum)
Inscriptio: the doctor's and the patient's details, and the date.
Invocatio: Rp. (Recipe — "take"), the instruction to the pharmacist.
Designatio materiarum: the medicines and their amounts.
Subscriptio: what the pharmacist does, e.g. Misce. Fiat pulvis. Da. Signa.
Signatura: after S. (Signa — "label"), how the patient takes it, in the patient's language.
The doctor's signature and stamp.
Grammar of the prescription
Names of medicines and ingredients stand in the genitive when an amount follows: Tincturae Valerianae 10 ml, Solutionis Chlorhexidini 0,12% 250 ml.
Dose forms counted by number stand in the accusative after Recipe: Recipe: Tabulettas Ibuprofeni 0,4 numero 20.
Amounts are in grams unless another unit is written (ml, drops, units).
Chemical names
Acids: Acidum + adjective in -icum: Acidum ascorbinicum (ascorbic acid).
Salts and oxides: the cation in the genitive, the anion in the nominative: Natrii chloridum (sodium chloride), Magnesii sulfas (magnesium sulfate), Zinci oxidum (zinc oxide).
