Mercury: the beginnings in the medicalization of common names of medicinal plants in Brazil
Abstract Medicalization of common names of medicinal plants is a process that involves replacing popular native names by trademarked names of drugs, active principles or therapeutic indications used by modern biomedicine. In Brazil, this process seems to have been intensified in the early 2000s due...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro
2020-07-01
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| Series: | Rodriguésia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2175-78602020000100710&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1798014601904783360 |
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| author | Bruno Vilson Leal Siqueira Cássia Mônica Sakuragui Bruno Eleres Soares Danilo Ribeiro de Oliveira |
| author_facet | Bruno Vilson Leal Siqueira Cássia Mônica Sakuragui Bruno Eleres Soares Danilo Ribeiro de Oliveira |
| author_sort | Bruno Vilson Leal Siqueira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Medicalization of common names of medicinal plants is a process that involves replacing popular native names by trademarked names of drugs, active principles or therapeutic indications used by modern biomedicine. In Brazil, this process seems to have been intensified in the early 2000s due to the increasing use of those names in ethnoscientific surveys in local communities. In this study, we aimed to trace the origins of that process. For this purpose, we reviewed data from the “grey literature” pre-1980, including 15 books, compendia, dictionaries, and guides of medicinal plants. Mercury and its lexical changes were the only medicalized names found in the literature before the 1980s. This is probably due to the ancient use of mercury in several medical systems through human history, including by Brazilian apothecaries since the seventeenth century. Moreover, Mercurochrome was the name of a Brazilian trademark of antiseptic that probably influenced the use of medicalized names of mercury in the past. The name “Mercury” and its “natural” epithet combinations, like “Mercúrio-vegetal” (Mercury-plant) and “Mercúrio-do-campo” (Field-mercury), could have been the original medicalized way of naming medicinal plants in Brazil. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T15:20:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-14fb62a0d2e04e7e8c3214daa0a2583c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2175-7860 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T15:20:59Z |
| publishDate | 2020-07-01 |
| publisher | Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Rodriguésia |
| spelling | doaj.art-14fb62a0d2e04e7e8c3214daa0a2583c2022-12-22T04:16:22ZengInstituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de JaneiroRodriguésia2175-78602020-07-017110.1590/2175-7860202071056Mercury: the beginnings in the medicalization of common names of medicinal plants in BrazilBruno Vilson Leal Siqueirahttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8366-7692Cássia Mônica SakuraguiBruno Eleres SoaresDanilo Ribeiro de OliveiraAbstract Medicalization of common names of medicinal plants is a process that involves replacing popular native names by trademarked names of drugs, active principles or therapeutic indications used by modern biomedicine. In Brazil, this process seems to have been intensified in the early 2000s due to the increasing use of those names in ethnoscientific surveys in local communities. In this study, we aimed to trace the origins of that process. For this purpose, we reviewed data from the “grey literature” pre-1980, including 15 books, compendia, dictionaries, and guides of medicinal plants. Mercury and its lexical changes were the only medicalized names found in the literature before the 1980s. This is probably due to the ancient use of mercury in several medical systems through human history, including by Brazilian apothecaries since the seventeenth century. Moreover, Mercurochrome was the name of a Brazilian trademark of antiseptic that probably influenced the use of medicalized names of mercury in the past. The name “Mercury” and its “natural” epithet combinations, like “Mercúrio-vegetal” (Mercury-plant) and “Mercúrio-do-campo” (Field-mercury), could have been the original medicalized way of naming medicinal plants in Brazil.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2175-78602020000100710&tlng=enethnobotanyethnotaxonomyhistorical researchmerbrominpharmacy |
| spellingShingle | Bruno Vilson Leal Siqueira Cássia Mônica Sakuragui Bruno Eleres Soares Danilo Ribeiro de Oliveira Mercury: the beginnings in the medicalization of common names of medicinal plants in Brazil Rodriguésia ethnobotany ethnotaxonomy historical research merbromin pharmacy |
| title | Mercury: the beginnings in the medicalization of common names of medicinal plants in Brazil |
| title_full | Mercury: the beginnings in the medicalization of common names of medicinal plants in Brazil |
| title_fullStr | Mercury: the beginnings in the medicalization of common names of medicinal plants in Brazil |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mercury: the beginnings in the medicalization of common names of medicinal plants in Brazil |
| title_short | Mercury: the beginnings in the medicalization of common names of medicinal plants in Brazil |
| title_sort | mercury the beginnings in the medicalization of common names of medicinal plants in brazil |
| topic | ethnobotany ethnotaxonomy historical research merbromin pharmacy |
| url | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2175-78602020000100710&tlng=en |
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