Training processes in the naming of medicinal plants in the Shipibo people

Abstract

The objective of this research was to describe the names of medicinal plants in the Shipibo-Konibo language to establish the bases for the elaboration of a book that describes the use of plants from the Peruvian Amazon in the traditional medicine of such a tide that it is possible to demonstrate the relationship that exists between those names and the cultural vision of the Shipibo-Konibo people. Twenty-two Shipibo phytonyms were analyzed, and selected by convenience sampling, considering similar morphological structures and mainly medicinal uses. It was concluded that phytonyms could be simple or compound. The simple names originated thanks to borrowings from other languages in contact and the Shipibo worldview. In the case of compound names, the use of ‘rao’ and ‘jihui’ is constant in most of the names analyzed and distinguishes between plants whose use is medicinal (rao) and those that fulfill other purposes (jihui).