EPONYMIZATION OF LITERARY AND MYTHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS IN ENGLISH, RUSSIAN AND BULGARIAN MEDICAL DOMAIN

Abstract

Objectives: to make a brief overview of the recent cognitive theoretical proposal by Pamela Faber - Frame - based Terminology Theory (FBTT); to determine the specificity, positive/ negative aspects and functions of medical eponymous term; to demonstrate eponymous terms variety in medical domain basing on English/Russian/Bulgarian examples (names of literary characters and mythological heroes) and focusing on the semantic information they convey; to apply the study results in foreign language terminological training at medical universities. Materials and research methods. Twenty-four (24) compound eponyms in English, Russian and Bulgarian medical academic languages have been excerpted and discussed applying the methods of definition analysis, conceptual integration, cognitive analysis, eponymous modelling, etymological analysis. Discussion and results of the study. Terminology is viewed as what we think about, the way we link things and consider them, the way we organize the world around us. Categorization is indicated as a key point in the study of life and science, respectively terminology. The considered medical eponymous terminological units debated in the current study denote mental or neurological disorders and syndromes. Medical description and brief information about the character whose name is immortalized has been suggested in respect of each eponym. Both processes of eponymization and de-eponymization have been considered. Positive and negative aspects of eponymous term have been laid out. Eponym is seen as a “carrier” of nomination, expressiveness, immortalization and specialized knowledge with encyclopedic informative value. Conclusions. The following conclusions have been made: 1. Terminology should be thought about and learnt by means of categories. 2. The process of eponymization marks turning proper nouns into common nouns. 3. Nominative, expressive, memorial and informative are the four basic functions attributed to eponymous medical term. 4. Difficult pronunciation, low derivational valence, incomplete concept representation, presence of homonyms and spelling variants are the negative aspects of eponymous medical term. 5. The process of de-eponymizing medical terminology has started. 6. Various diseases, syndromes, symptoms are denoted by medical eponyms. 7. Medical eponyms serve as “carriers” of specialized knowledge with a high encyclopedic informative value.