PHYTONYMS IN REFLECTION OF PEOPLE’S SUPERSTITIOUS TRADITIONS AS AN ASPECT OF LINGUISTIC EDUCATION (BY THE MATERIAL OF GERMAN)

 

Oksana G. Kuptcova¹, Anna L. Kolyago²*,

Alla A. Fokina³,  Elena L. Petrova⁴, Galina L. Sokolova⁵

¹As. Prof., Interregional Open Social Institute, Mari State University, RUSSIA, kuptcovaOG@yandex.ru

²As. Prof., Mari State University, RUSSIA, kolyago@yandex.ru

³As. Prof., Mari State University, RUSSIA, allafokina70@mail.ru

⁴As. Prof., Mari State University, RUSSIA, jandar78@mail.ru

⁵As. Prof., Mari State University, RUSSIA, askgalinasokol@mail.ru

*Corresponding Author

 

Abstract

In foreign and domestic language education, in folkloristics extensive experience has been accumulated in the study of names of medicinal plants both by the material of one language and in a comparative aspect. The issues of comparative research of languages which are studied by contrastive linguistics make it possible to penetrate deeper into the peculiarities of each language than it is possible to study single one. At the same time it becomes possible to identify and describe those features of compared languages that can elude our attention to only internal study of language. However, researches which are conducted by the material of one language or one language family differ in a certain peculiarity and depend on the traditions of the civilization to which this language belongs. The study of traditions, beliefs and everyday life has been on the periphery of linguists’ attention for several centuries. The mention of medicinal plants is clearly traced in Pagan and Christian traditions, in economic activity, the healing practice of banners and herbalists, which is directly verbalized in plant names. Phytonyms are considered and classified by linguists, philologists according to certain motivated types of nomination. The concept of "nomination principle (motivema)" is quite widely used in modern dialect lexicology in describing various thematic groups of vocabulary, primarily phytonyms. One of the features of the typological character in phytonymic vocabulary is the variety and numerous principles of the nomination: in color, in use in medicine, etc..

The purpose of this article is a semantic analysis of phytonyms in German, united by the motivema "popular beliefs, superstition”. The actual material for the study has been the author's card file, consisting of 53 the most common medicinal plants and including more than 4,000 names (Rubtcova, 2015). The method of synchronous description of the collected material is used to solve the purposes and tasks set in the work, using distributive analysis and elements of the diachronic method. The article clearly demonstrates how centuries-old Pagan and Christian beliefs associated with the holidays, their ritual side, folk magic and demonology have formed the basis of a number of medicinal plants’ names.

Keywords: phytonym, medicinal plants, belief, legend, magic properties, the German language, motivema, nomination, language education