The world of plants in the east-Slovian healing spells Cover Image

Świat roślinny zapisany w nagaworach wschodniosłowiańskich
The world of plants in the east-Slovian healing spells

Author(s): Krystyna Szcześniak
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: healing spells; plant; magic text; folk medicine; Slavonic/Slavic languages

Summary/Abstract: The article concerns the plant naming present in east-slovian healing spells which themselves cinstitute a very specific example of magic texts. The researched material allowed for three types of such orders to be distinguished: 1. Texts where the name of plant or its specific part is necessary for the incantation. 2. Texts where the name forms a background for the ritual of dispelling. 3. Texts where both of the aformentioned functions are attributed to the plant. The gathered material contained not only the names of various plants, shrubs and trees but also specific plant parts (such as gnarls, branches and fungi growing thereupon) and their respective collectivities (such as forests and orchards) or objects made from them (such as a broom or a crucifix). The presence of plant names is usually connected with the symbolic nature of those respective plants in slovian culture. The absence in those orders of such names as: plantago or linden or other plants having equally time-honoured traditions in folk medicine can bring about some confusion, however, after more such texts have been researched these doubts may well be dispersed.

  • Issue Year: 2007
  • Issue No: 31
  • Page Range: 299-313
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish
Toggle Accessibility Mode