National Mentality, Values and Folk Knowledge in Medical Lexical Units: An English–Uzbek Linguocultural Study

Medical vocabulary is often described as the most international and culture-free part of the lexicon. This article questions that view by examining how English and Uzbek medical lexical units preserve national mentality, cultural values and folk knowledge about the body, health and illness. The material was drawn from explanatory, etymological and phraseological dictionaries, collections of proverbs and selected literary texts. The units were studied through etymological, componential and linguocultural analysis, and the conceptual metaphors behind them were identified. The two languages share an old layer of humoral and naturalistic belief. English melancholy, phlegmatic and malaria and Uzbek mijoz, shamollamoq and the division of food into “hot” and “cold” all reflect the idea that health depends on a balance of bodily fluids, temperature and air. Both languages also keep traces of beliefs about invisible harm, as in English lunatic and influenza and Uzbek ko‘z tegdi “the evil eye has touched”. The differences are no less revealing. Uzbek medical lexis is closely tied to family values, modesty and religious ethics, which is seen in its many euphemisms for pregnancy and childbirth and in formulaic wishes for recovery. English shows a stronger shift from folk names to neutral scientific terms. The findings suggest that medical vocabulary is a valuable source for reconstructing the national picture of the world and that its cultural load matters for medical translation, doctor–patient communication and language teaching.