IMAGINARY PLACES IN ROMANIAN – BALKAN FAIRYTALES. MYTHICAL ANALOGIES Cover Image

IMAGINARY PLACES IN ROMANIAN – BALKAN FAIRYTALES. MYTHICAL ANALOGIES
IMAGINARY PLACES IN ROMANIAN – BALKAN FAIRYTALES. MYTHICAL ANALOGIES

Author(s): Simona Mihai
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Ovidius University Press
Keywords: popular culture; Balkan space; toponimy; imaginary; linguistics; mythology.

Summary/Abstract: Our study is focused on the linguistic - mythological analysis of names of the imaginary places from the Romanian fairytales, based on the indestructible connection between idea – as the result of thinking – and word. The approach starts from the premises that the double “game” that generates names of imaginary places forms part of the mental representation of the archaic world from which we can extract for certain some definitive features. Our approach also identifies some mythical analogies in the popular culture of the Balkan space because the generated imaginary toponyms become linguistic reflections of some mythical elements preserved in the fairytales of different communities. From the common background of representations of the Balkan peoples’ imagination, we synthesize some examples regarding: the sacredness of the individual space; excessive protection of their own space; the village seen as organized space; the mythical image of the land forms; common beliefs on life after death. The comparative analysis of some imaginary places’ names from the linguistic – mythological perspective can definitely prove the fact that there are many mythical analogies in the Balkan popular culture. We believe that there are at least two reasons for which this approach must be done: on the one hand, we refer to the existence of a rich mythological substrate in the Romanian popular creations, which is insufficiently valorized, and on the other hand, these studies could deepen the knowledge of spiritual life of the peoples from the Balkan space.

  • Issue Year: XXIV/2013
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 123-133
  • Page Count: 11
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