[The vena cava--reflections on nomenclature].

In the course of standardization of anatomical nomenclature old nomenclatures are retained although their sense is not clear. One example is the term " Hohl "- Vene (= "hollow" vein). During the time of ancient medicine the names artery/vein signified a hollow structure and later the meaning was limited to vessels. At that time two names existed for the inferior vena cava: vena magna (the "big" vein) and vena cava (the "hollow" vein). Later authors thought that the name vena cava was an error of translation. But the history of medicine demonstrates a clear coherence between the words "hollow space" and "spirit". Therefore the name " Hohl "- Vene indicates that people supposed the animal spirit being in the hollow part of the blood circulation.