Abstract:

The name of traditional Chinese medicine is not only the symbolic representation of traditional Chinese medicine, but also the cognitive starting point for the outside world to understand traditional Chinese medicine, as well as the mental entrance for the outside world to understand the excellent traditional Chinese culture and the experience and cognition of Chinese people. This paper explains the empirical and cognitive nature of Chinese medicine metonymic naming from the perspective of Embodied-Cognitive Terminology. Our study indicates that the experiential nature of Chinese medicine metonymy naming is embodied in the fact that the naming process depends on the experience system of the nomenclature. The cognitive nature of Chinese medicine metonymy naming is embodied in the naming process which is a subjective cognitive process. When naming things with significant Chinese characteristics, we should make the names of such things show the profound spiritual and cultural accumulation of the country and highlight the charm of the splendid and dazzling traditional culture of five thousand years. Moreover, in addition to emphasizing the cultural nature of naming, we should also pursue the conventions of naming, and actively promote the two aspects to reach an organic balance.

Key words: embodied-cognitive terminology, Chinese medicine naming, embodied cognitive thinking, metonymy