In some of the original German text, archaic or out-of-date medical terms were used, some of which do not translate easily into English. An example is the German word Sympathalgie , meaning facial neuralgia ( Gesichtsneuralgie ), a term found in the Nux Vomica monograph. Other terms include antiphlogistic ( antiphlogistisch ), an old term for antiinflammatory, and secretolytic ( sekretolytisch ) for anti-secretory, to describe the action of Verbena.

In many of the monographs in the section on Mode of Administration the word Zerkleinerte has been translated as comminuted , a term meaning to reduce to small particles or powder by crushing, grinding, or powdering. Originally, we considered using the word ground to denote the physical action of crushing the herbal material into an almost powdered form. However, since "comminuted" can refer to both a coarse as well as a fine powder form and thus has a wider range of meaning than either ground or powdered , we chose this somewhat archaic but more precise term.

In most cases in the monographs, the word herb refers to the aerial or aboveground portion of a plant. The word droge refers to whatever part or parts of the plant are officially listed in the monograph and therefore could refer to any plant parts. In this sense, the term drug is used in its pharmaceutical meaning of crude drug, a term formerly used in pharmacy to refer to herbs and other medicinal plant materials in their dried (from Old Dutch droog , to dry) whole, cut, or powdered forms, before they have undergone any additional pharmaceutical processing, i.e., been made into a tincture, fluidextract, standardized extract, etc. It should also be noted that in Germany, herbs are approved as legitimate drugs and, therefore, the term drug also takes on a legal/regulatory connotation as part of an approved system of medicine.

The section at the end of each Unapproved monograph is called Beurteilung. It can be translated Assessment, Evaluation, Judgment, or Recommendation. We have chosen Evaluation for the section where Commission E explains why the herb was not approved.

The Evaluation section of some of the monographs of Unapproved Herbs cites the use of an herb as a "flavor corrigent" ( Geschmackskorrigenz ) — a term used to denote an agent added to others to modify or correct the actions of other ingredients, in this case, to make a positive contribution to flavor. For example, the monographs for Basil leaf, Buchu leaf, Hyssop herb, Orris root, and Rose Hip and seed are unapproved for drug use, but each are approved as a "corrigent" to add to the taste of teas. The herbs did not receive a positive evaluation because they lacked adequate scientific documentation of historical use; however, there is no problem regarding safety. Thus, the Commission approved their uses for flavor purposes when added to other herbs in a tea mixture — they do not contribute any documented therapeutic benefits.

We have translated Flüssigkeitszufuhr as "irrigation therapy," denoting either the washing out of a cavity or area with fluids or, literally, the introduction of liquids, referring to "more than average intake of liquid, aquaresis." (Franz, 1997.) Schilcher notes that enough liquids must be drunk to reduce microorganisms in the lower urinary tract and kidneys to pass liquids freely, without electrolyte content. This process is aquaresis, but is not a classic diuretic effect (Schilcher, 1998a). Irrigation therapy is noted in monographs for Asparagus root, Goldenrod, Parsley herb and root, and others.

We have translated Bestandteile des Arzneimittels as "Name of Drug" for the initial section of most monographs. It could also be translated "Part of Drug," "Constituents of Drug," or as "Description of Drug." However, "description" might be misinterpreted as a botanical description of the plant itself. Professor Schilcher in his English translations in Phytotherapy in Paediatrics has used "Official Name" in reference to the fact that the pharmacopeial name for the monograph was found in this first section. However, since we included the preferred English common name for the benefit of English readers, we could not use "Official Name" as the designation in this section.

In many of the monographs the term Keine bekannt was used, which we have translated as "None known." This phrase often appears under the Contraindications, Side Effects, and Interactions with Other Drugs sections and refers to the fact that the Commission was unable to find any reports in the literature to justify comments under these respective sections. Prof. Schilcher has translated this as "None reported," which he says more accurately reflects the Commission's meaning.

We prefer the more modern spelling of pharmacopeia when using this word in a generic sense. However, some pharmacopeias still use the older spelling (with the "o") and whenever the official title of a volume is used, we defer to the publisher.

As noted previously, the Commission published at least 83 revisions to previous monographs. These revisions include changed dosage, altered or added warnings, side effects, and so on. These revisions were known as Berichtigung , which also means "correction" or "amendment."

In common English usage in the U.S. for some herbs, the word "seed" is often used to refer to plant parts that are, from a strictly botanical view, actually fruits. Examples include Milk Thistle "seed," Anise and Fennel "seeds," and Parsley "seed" — all fruits. In botany a fruit is the matured pistil or ovary of the flower with or without accessory structures; a seed is a fertilized or ripened ovule containing an embryo, with one or two seed coats and with or without endosperm (albumin) (Hocking, 1968). Another authoritative text notes that seeds consist of a kernel surrounded by one, two, or three seed coats and that "care must be taken to distinguish seeds from fruits or parts of fruits containing a single seed, e.g., cereals and the mericarps of the Umbelliferae." (Trease and Evans, 1966.) In the case of Milk Thistle, we have designated the plant part as fruit in keeping with the official pharmacopeial name of the monograph, Cardui marianum fructus. However, with Anise, Fennel, and Parsley we have used the term seed as stylistic preference due to common usage.

In the Mode of Administration section we have translated Aufgüsse as "infusions" rather than "teas." This refers to the act of pouring boiling water over some chopped herbs and allowing the mixture to steep for several minutes. A tea that is made by adding boiling water and continuing to add more heat to the mixture is called a decoction, and is usually reserved for making water extracts of heavy, dense plant materials, such as roots, barks, and sometimes seeds. The precise methods of preparation for infusions and decoctions is presented in the eighth edition of the German Pharmacopoiea ( DAB 8).