FROM ETHNOBOTANY TO HEALING WITH WORDS

Abstract

The article examines the traditions of collecting and researching materials from the field of ethnobotany, folk medicine and verbal healing in the past and present. The history of the study of Estonian ethnomedicine (1880-2020) and other related fields of folk knowledge is relatively short, but during this period a huge amount of material was collected. The article lists the founders of the study of these disciplines, discusses their goals, methods, and scientific achievements. The subject of this study is the principles of the study of ethnomedicine and ethnobotany; the paper raises the question of the reasons for the lack of research in these fields, and formulates new tasks for modern studies.