Metaphorical Expressions of Korean Medical Terms: From Non-Medical to Medical Domains

This study aims to collect and systematically analyze metaphorical phenomena in which Korean medical concepts are expressed in non-medical domains. For example, expressions such as “disease is the shadow of life” evidence the borrowing of diverse non-medical concepts to construct cognitive frameworks. By analyzing such metaphorical expressions, this study identifies the social meanings embedded in medical language. To achieve this, metaphorical usages of medical concepts are collected from news articles and then categorized and examined according to their distinctive features. Unlike previous research that has primarily focused on metaphors such as [war] and [journey], this study discusses medical metaphors related to [transportation], [factory/mechanical], and [crime/disaster] and investigates the mapping structures and characteristics of each type. This categorization demonstrates that medical concepts show evidence of borrowing from various non-medical source domains to convey sociocultural meanings and perform diverse functions such as issuing warnings or emphasizing the severity of problems. The findings highlight the significance of this study by suggesting a point of convergence between metaphor research in Korean linguistics and research on medical communication.