Имената на българските медни съдове като етнографски извор
The Names of Bulgarian Copper Vessels as an Ethnographic Source

Summary/Abstract: The author considers the problem of the significance of ethnolinguistic data as a source in interpreting the specifics of a concrete phenomenon in traditional Bulgarian folk material culture — vessels wrought in copper. The study is based on terms used in written and spoken Bulgarian in their historical ethnic territory. The author elucidates the principles applied in her work with the names of copper articles. They concern seeking out the terminology and systematizing it. An analysis of the linguistic data proves that they indicate the variety of the work of coppersmiths, based on chiefly household articles, which have proved, in the experience of many generations, to be practical and to have many functions. This corresponds to the utilitarian and aesthetic needs of the Bulgarian ethnos which created and used them. The spoken language accounts for the specific features of these copper vessels which are due to the peculiarities of the craft, the conditions under which they were made and the milieu in which they were created and used. In conclusion, the national features in the character of the copper vessels are proved, as well as their regular development into specific national features, corresponding to the conditions prevalent from the second half of the 18th century onwards.

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