Talk:X-ray

I'm unsure about the meaning of Dutch "bestraalen". In german there is the medical term "bestrahlen" which is done to destroy tissue that contains cancer-cells. I guess the dutch usage is the same. So is this treatment called to x-ray? If so I would apriciate to also see a sample sentence. :-) Henryk911 02:07 Apr 17, 2003 (UTC)

In the narrow sense you are right, bestralen means to treat with radiation. In this way you can treat patients with cancer (kankerpatiënten bestralen). But in a broader sense bestralen means to cast beams upon. For example, you can say that the sun casts beams upon the earth (de zon bestraalt de aarde). The beams do not necessarily have to be light beams. An X-ray machine also casts beams, therefore you can use bestralen in that sense too. Although I grant that it is not the most specific of translations. I guess every language has words with both a specific and a broader meaning. D.D.