#ethnomedicine

• aba - A thick, coarse woolen fabric, usually white or gray, processed in a fulling mill. In Balkan ethnomedicine and history of hygiene, this material was historically used for weather-resistant peasant clothing and as an elementary thermal insulator in traditional rural treatments (dry wraps to combat chills or rheumatism).
• abai - A rare regional term used in certain western areas of Romania to designate a large piece of thick woolen fabric or a coarse frieze blanket. In empirical rural health practices, this material (the abai) was heated near a stove and applied to the thorax of patients with respiratory conditions or to painful joints for its analgesic and sweat-inducing effects.
• abaldă - An extremely rare, archaic, and regional term attested in old northern Transylvanian glossaries, historically denoting a rudimentary wooden tool (a heavy pestle or crusher) used in peasant households or by local folk healers to pound and pulverize tree bark, fibrous roots, or animal fats intended for traditional ointments and empirical remedies.
• Abgar - The name borne by several kings of Edessa (historical Syria), the most famous in Romanian Christian ethnomedicine being Abgar V Ukhamâ. According to apocryphal legends found in old folk healing books, he suffered from leprosy and was cured after receiving a letter and a cloth bearing the face of Jesus (Mandylion). Abgar's Letter circulated for centuries in Romanian villages as a sacred talisman, worn around the neck by the sick to ward off plague, epilepsy, fevers, or difficult births.