English Metaphoric Medical Terms and Their Georgian Equivalents

Abstract

Metaphor is one of the most interesting tropes among lexical stylistic devices. The term „metaphor,“ as the etymology of the word reveals, means the transference of some quality from one object to another. It is based on the principle of analogy. A metaphor becomes a stylistic device when two completely different concepts are united in the mind according to a certain feature that one of them does not possess in reality.

One of the characteristic features of a term that distinguishes it from an ordinary word is its neutral character. Alternatively, terms should be free of stylistic loading, expressiveness, and emotions, according to their nature. Notwithstanding this, metaphors are quite frequently created in the terminological system. Term formation by means of meaning transference is often a rather significant process (e.g., deadlock).

This process was mainly observed in the medical sphere. The vast majority of medical terms are metaphors. It is particularly vivid in English medical terminology. One of the problems with such metaphoric terms is figuring out their Georgian equivalents.

Metaphors are often used in terminological vocabulary for term formation.

This study aims to identify and categorize metaphorical terms in medical terminology.

The English names of various diseases and syndromes with metaphoric value are compared to their Georgian equivalents. Consequently, the classification of the material under investigation revealed several groups.