„This is pretty, but so damaging” – the Linguistic and cultural Image of Corncockle in Polish Folk Tradition

  • Anna Kaczan
Keywords: corncockle, stereotype, linguistic and cultural image of the world, Polish folk culture

Abstract

The article presents the linguistic and cultural image of corncockle, a plant that is categorized as a weed, a flower or a herb. The full version of the entry for corncockle (Polish: KĄKOL) will be included in the Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols, the volume Mushrooms, Weeds, Plant Clusters, part VIII, edited by Jerzy Bartmiński and Stanisława Niebrzegowska-Bartmińska. In accordance with the assumptions of the cognitive definition, the folk image of corncockle was reconstructed on the basis of linguistic data (including various types of texts of folklore: proverbs, songs, belief stories, written peasant poetry) and the so-called co-linguisticata (i.e. records of beliefs and descriptions of folk practices: ritualistic, magical, or medicinal). The documentary material comes from the database of the Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols, archived at the Jerzy Bartmiński Ethnolinguistic Unit, UMCS, Lublin.

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