THE ROLE OF FOLKLORE ELEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION AND EVOLUTION OF FOLK MEDICINE TERMINOLOGY IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK LANGUAGES

Abstract

This research article investigates the linguistic and cultural mechanisms through which folklore genres specifically proverbs, legends, incantations, and folk songs serve as repositories for folk medicine terminology in the English and Uzbek languages. While modern medical terminology has become increasingly standardized and Latinized in the West, and Russified or internationalized in Uzbekistan, archaic and culture-specific healing terms continue to thrive within the "living archive" of folklore. This study employs a comparative-historical analysis to examine how paremiological units (proverbs) and narrative folklore preserve lexical units related to herbalism, spiritual healing, and anatomy that have otherwise disappeared from active lexicon. The research addresses a significant gap in current linguo-culturological studies: while the derivational and etymological aspects of these terms have been studied, their functional existence within oral tradition remains under-explored. By analyzing data drawn from English folklore anthologies (such as the Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm) and Uzbek oral traditions (Alpomish dastan, folk taboos), the study reveals that folklore does not merely preserve these terms but facilitates their semantic evolution. The findings demonstrate that English folklore often encases medical terms in rhyme for mnemonic purposes, whereas Uzbek folklore frequently embeds them within spiritual or ritualistic contexts (shamanship/bakhshi traditions). The article concludes that folklore elements act as a stabilizing factor, preventing the complete obsolescence of historic medical lexicon, and suggests that lexicographers must rely on these oral sources to compile comprehensive bilingual dictionaries of folk medicine.