Pulse-taking Terminology

Pulse-taking has been an important element of traditional Chinese medical diagnosis from the earliest times, and developments in pulse-taking have been reflected by the changing use of pulse terms. This must be adequately dealt with in translation if the clinical significance of a body of clinical literature spanning two millennia is to be preserved in transmission to the modern West. This paper shows that a philological approach to translation that takes account of the literal meaning of terms as well as their definitions in the context of the pulse. This provides the best translation solution for pulse terms as a whole, irrespective of the clarity and precision of definition or the number of senses in which terms are used.