Linguistic Analysis of Flora Images in the Ritual Superstitions of the English, Russian, and Mari Languages

Ekaterina E. Fliginskikh¹*, Galina N. Semenova²

¹Senior Lecturer, Mari State University, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, katenasmile@mail.ru

²Full Prof. Dr., I.N. Ulyanova Chuvash State University, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, gncemenova@yandex.ru

*Corresponding Author

Abstract

The objective of the article is to study superstitions with the names of plants connected with rites of pregnancy, birth, wedding, and death of three different languages: English, Russian, and Mari. The research shows that superstitions containing names of flora are distributed as following: English - 43 units, Russian – 15 units, and Mari – 28 units. Superstitions devoted to rites of pregnancy are presented by 12 units, birth – 3 units, wedding – 37 units, and death – 34 units. In general, 60 superstitions have positive meaning, and 26 - negative meaning. The most popular plants are a rowan tree and a birch, both having an apotropaic meaning.

Keywords: superstitions, rites of passage, names of plants.