レントゲン

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, born in 1845 in Lennep and later a professor at Würzburg, discovered X-rays in 1895. The German source form is the surname Röntgen, also written Roentgen without the umlaut. Röntgen received the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. Duden notes that röntgen as a verb was named after W. C. Röntgen and that the designation was introduced in 1896 by the Swiss anatomist Albert von Kölliker. Japanese took the name through German scientific and medical vocabulary. 精選版日本国語大辞典 records レントゲン as X-rays or an X-ray device in 新らしい言葉の字引 in 1918, and later as an abbreviation for レントゲン写真 in Hayashi Fumiko's Ukigumo in 1949-50. Duden lists Röntgenstrahlen in the 1905 Rechtschreibduden. The related term レントゲン線 means X-rays; レントゲン写真 means an X-ray image. In present Japanese, レントゲン often means the examination or the image, as in 胸のレントゲンを撮る. The verb レントゲンを撮る centers on taking the image, not measuring exposure. English normally uses X-ray for that routine everyday meaning. English roentgen is mainly a radiation unit or a technical adjective, so the Japanese daily noun is much broader in hospital speech.