A Cognitive Onomastics Study of Traditional Chinese Herb Names

Herb names not only facilitate identification but also convey crucial information regarding the potential uses and benefits of traditional Chinese herbs. However, the names of herbal medicines have received scant systematic study previously, especially from a cognitive onomastics perspective. By investigating the motivation for the nomenclature of 217 common Chinese herbs selected from the herbology section of Compendium of Materia Medica, we found that 160 herbs were named based on a single salient characteristic such as shape, efficacy, color, nature & flavor, place of origin, folklore, harvesting season, habitat, and odor, ranked in descending order. The remaining 57 herbs were named by integrating two or more characteristics. We contend that giving priority to shape and color in naming aligns with the gestalt principle and the human optic nerve's sensitivity to color. Efficacy, nature & flavor, origin, harvesting season, and odor are crucial factors determining the quality and efficacy of herbs, thus being included in the herb names. We conclude that names for Chinese herbs can be attributed to the cognitive metonymy pattern CHARACTERISTICS FOR HERB. However, both conceptual blending and conceptual metaphor play significant roles in the naming of herbs, as conceptual blending integrates characteristics in naming and conceptual metaphor links herbs to familiar entities in naming.