Translation of Chinese medical pulse terms: Taking account of the historical dimension

Pulse-taking has been an important element of traditional Chinese medical diagnosis from the earliest times. Developments in pulse-taking have been reflected in changing use of pulse terms that has to be adequately dealt with in translation if the clinical significance of a body of literature spanning two millennia is to be preserved in the transmission of Chinese medical concepts 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 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.