larserik (asker) Jul 12, 2017:

Thanks a lot for pointing me to Italian I get two Google hits for "chioma cerebrale site:it". I will put this phrase on Proz.com again, now for Italian>English. -- Answer to the question about context: there is nothing more than "cause of death: chioma cerebrale" in a death certificate.

Muhammad Syarif Jul 12, 2017:

I don't think it's Latin. Mrrafe already speculates it might be Italian and I firmly agree. The closest usage I can find online that might give a clue as to what this might mean is this:

"Al microscopio, ogni singola cellula cerebrale con le sue fibre nervose somiglia un po’ alla chioma di un albero." (Under the microscope, every single brain cell with its nervous fibre resembles the foliage of a tree.)

Perhaps showing the sentence in your text where the phrase is found can help us determine its exact meaning?

larserik (asker) Jul 12, 2017:

Agree Thanks for your input. I agree, it doesn't look like Latin. On the other hand, there is a lot of Greek in "doctors' latin", maybe it is Latinized Greek (just a guess of course). -- I think the man who killed himself shot himself in the head, but I fail to see a connection to hair or bundle. Especially when it's a cause of death.

mrrafe Jul 11, 2017:

It doesn't look like Latin. In Italian, chioma is hairs or branches or cluster (bundle, bunch) - could be nerve bundles in a brain, or hairs on a head?