Plants and Herbs in Traditional Serbian Culture - Collection of Papers

PLANTS AND HERBS IN TRADITIONAL
SERBIAN CULTURE
Collection of papers
Edited: Zoja Karanović and Jasmina Dražić
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
“SVETOZAR MARKOVIĆ”
BELGRADE
Serbian Folklorist Association
University Library „Svetozar Marković”, Belgrade
For the publisher: Boško Suvajdžić

Aleksandar Jerkov
Editors: Zoja Karanović

Jasmina Dražić
Rewievers: Nada Milošević Đorđević

Krinka Vidaković Petrov
Žarko Bošnjaković
Illustration: The Oak tree in the village of Savinac
Cover design: Nataša Matović
Print: Štamparija “Feljton”, Novi Sad

Print run: 300
ISBN: 978-86-7301-086-1
Belgrade, 2016
CIP - Каталогизација у публикацији

Библиотека Матице српске, Нови Сад
398(497.11)(082)
811.163.41.09:398]:582(082)
ГОРА љиљанова : (биљни свет у традиционалној култури Срба) :

зборник радова / [уредништво Зоја Карановић, Јасмина Дражић]. - Београд
: Удружење фолклориста Србије : Универзитетска библиотека “Светозар
Марковић”, 2016 (Нови Сад : Фељтон). - 418 стр. ; 24 cm
Радови на срп., рус. и енгл. језику. - Тираж 300. - Напомене и библиографске

референце уз радове. - Библиографија уз сваки рад. - Резимеи на више језика.
ISBN 978-86-7301-086-1
a) Фолклористика - Србија - Зборници b) Српска народна књижевност -

Мотиви - Биљке - Зборници
COBISS.SR-ID 304223751
“For every disease, God has provided a cure.
For every disease, there is a medicinal herb,
but people do not know which
herb heals which disease.”
(M. Милићевић, Живот Срба сељака, Београд, 1884: 56)
COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced or utilized in any form
without permission in writing from the autor, as the holder of the copyright.
4
CONTENTS
Zoja S. Karanović and Jasmina N. Dražić

In the beginning was the Word (nomination of plants in Karadžić’s
“Rječnik“ 1852)...................................................................................7
Snežana D. Samardžija
The third day. The origin and features of plants in folk renditions......21
Йоанна Й. Ренкас (Joanna J. Rękas)

Христианская символика базилика в свете теории культурной
памяти религиозных групп.................................................................35
Sonja D. Petrović
The motive of difficult tasks and herbal code in Serbian and
South Slavic folklore.............................................................................53
Ana V. Vukmanović
Marvellous plants in lyrical folk songs................................................55
Biljana Lj. Sikimić

The rootless tree: dendronyms in South Slavic riddles.........................67
Smiljana Ž. Đorđević Belić

The motif of extinguishing fire with grass and water in one type of
Serbian and South Slavic chanting . ....................................................69
Danijela M. Popović Nikolić

Fallen Pine ‒ on researching the functions of plants
and herbs in dirges..............................................................................85
Gordana R. Štasni
The linguistic picture of the world in the lexicon of Serbian floral
anthroponyms.......................................................................................95
Slavko V. Petaković
The Petrarchist Herbarium – a contribution to the study of
Dubrovnik renaissance poetry..............................................................107
Mirjana D. Stefanović
Pflanzen in der Serbischen Bürgerlichen Poesie..................................115
5
Snežana M. Božanić
Vineyards as bordered areas and border entities in the system of
medieval Serbian space .......................................................................127
Tatjana M. Katić
The ottoman ATTARS and herbal medicine in 16th
century Balkan towns...........................................................................141
Nedeljko V. Radosavljević
Medicinal recipe book from the monastery of Godovik........................151
Aleksandra R. Savić
The tradition of cultivating varieties of local fruits in Serbia:
importance, heritage and biological diversity......................................153
6
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD...
UDC: 811.163.41’374:929 Karadžić V. S.

39: [811.163.41’373.22:58
811.163.41’373.6:58
Zoja S. Karanović
University professor of Folklore and Anthropology
zojanko@stcable.net
Jasmina N. Dražić
University of Novi Sad
Faculty of Philosophy
jasmina@ff.uns.ac.rs
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD (NOMINATION OF

PLANTS IN KARADŽIĆ’S “RJEČNIK” 1852)*
This paper discusses the motivations behind the names attributed to members of floral
lexical-semantic group in the second edition of Karadžić’s “Srpski rječnik” (Serbian
Dictionary), and by applying the conceptual method, it aims to establish the basic
mechanisms which were active in the generation of folk names for these plants. Taking
an anthropocentric stance, under the premise that linguistic semantization mirrors a
person’s view of the world, the symbolism of the plant names is interpreted based on
the floral code. In this paper, therefore, the elementary motivational bases involved in
the naming of members of floral environment are established. This is accompanied by
the hypothesis that a person’s sensory perception and immediate environment – parts of
the body, animal morphology, immediate surroundings, habitats and familiar temporal
landmarks – were crucial sources for the names of plants, and served as the familiar world
which was mapped onto the realm of lesser known plants. While the plants were being
named, positive and negative qualifications from the sacral sphere were also attributed
to them. Using the floral lexical group as an example, an attempt is made to identify the
correlation between culture and language. Additionally, through analysing the names of
members of the group, the place, role and the function plants had in the life and thoughts
of people in the past is determined.
Key terms: plant, naming, Rječnik (1852), Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, symbol, custom, culture.
The second edition of Srpski rječnik (Serbian Dictionary, 1852) by Vuk
* This paper is based on research conducted as part of the projects Аспекти идентитета и
њихово обликовање у српској књижевности (Aspects of identity and their forms in Serbian
fiction, No 178005) and Стандардни српски језик: синтаксичка, семантичка и прагматичка
истраживања (Standard Serbian language: syntactic, semantic and pragmatic research, No.
178004). These projects are being carried out at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Novi
Sad and are financed by the Republic of Serbia’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technological
Advancement.
7
Zoja S. Karanović, Jasmina N. Dražić
Stefanović Karadžić, features linguistic material from a significant part of the

Shtokavian (East Herzegovinian) linguistic area, as opposed to the first edition
(1818), which included only the words from the region around Karadžić’s home
village, Tršić. Consequently, and in proportion to the number of words in the
second edition, which was almost double1 that of the Rječnik from 1818, the
number of units denoting plant life may be derived to have also risen, from about
four hundred to more than nine hundred lexemes2. A general and encyclopaedic
dictionary, the Rječnik from 1852 also bears some of the features of a dictionary
of synonyms and of a dialectal and phraseological dictionary and seeks to
mirror the culture and customs of the Serbs at the time. This had also been the
author’s explicit intention in the first edition: “Insofar as is possible, a dictionary
should recount and describe everything a people knows and says about a word”3
(Караџић 1818: viii).4 A lexeme therefore becomes an entry point to a picture of
life, a belief or an experience, described in verses, phrases or short notes, which
are sometimes “complete miniature studies in history, sociology, folklore, etc.”
(Вукомановић 1976: 714), or, in other words, in the Rječnik, the lexeme is a
picture of traditional life expressed in language and is “a most distinctive mark
and expression of ethnos” (Толстој 1995: 9).
The object of analysis in this paper is the floral component of the “Rječnik”
(1852), particularly with respect to the motivation behind the naming of the plants
in it. This naming directly reveals the correlation between human beings and their
immediate environment, i.e. it shows the human sensory perception and reception
of a plant, and how the temporal and spatial aspects featured in plants’ names fit
the human perspective. Symbolic features are also recorded in this paper; these
can reveal “a model of the world based on the ‘floral code’” (Раденковић 1996:
193).
The names of the plants which feature in Karadžić’s “Rječnik” are largely
motivated by human perception of this segment of reality.5 The names of flora
therefore reflect a certain view of the immediate environment, one which makes
1 The precise number of lexemes in the “Rječnik” has not been stated anywhere in the literature –
an approximation has been made, of 47000 words. The rise in the number of lexemes in relation to
the 1818 edition is attributed to the introduction of regional doublets and words from urban areas
(the so-called varoške reči / ‛town words’, Кашић 1987: 67).
2 This number includes all the lexemes related to plants, and their regional variants, as well as
the words which are outside the scope of this semantic group, but whose illustrative explanations
mention a plant.
3 Unless stated otherwise, all citations have been translated from Serbian by the translator of this
paper.
4 Regarding this matter, the author says the following: “the words which were printed earlier I
had in my head, and I wrote them down as I remembered them; the ones I introduce now I collected
in various regions where our people lives, and to do this, I travelled [...] to Croatia, Dalmatia,
Dubrovnik, Boka [Kotorska] and Montenegro” (Караџић, Предговор 1852: v).
5 This confirms the view of anthropocentric theory, on the subject of which Wierzbicka says this:
“In natural language, meaning consists in human interpretation of the world. It is subjective, it
is anthropocentric, it reflects predominant cultural concerns and culture-specific modes of social
interaction as much as any objective features of the world ‘as such’” (Wierzbicka 1988: 2).
8
it possible to understand the cognitive processes relating to denotative, referential

and naming functions, i.e. the interrelatedness of the realia, the meaning
(symbolism and association) and the name of the plant. The folk etymology of
the plants recorded in Karadžić’s “Rječnik” therefore provides an opportunity
to study this lexical and semantic group from the point of view of linguistics,
poetics and spiritual culture (cf. Толстой, Толстая 1988: 252).
In order to analyse these lexemes in the “Rječnik”, the process of
understanding one concept in terms of another needs to be identified.6 Generally,
the first (source) concept is a well-known and tangible entity. This concept is then
used in the naming of the second (target) concept (cf. Klikovac 2004: 11–12).
Conceptual analysis is most suited to studying abstract lexis (cf. Драгићевић
2007: 89), and therefore plants, being concrete entities and well known realia, fall
outside the scope of analysis delimited by cognitive theory postulates. As a result,
they are usually considered source domains.7 However, the nature of certain
(folk) names in the Rječnik demonstrates that the plants in it were named after
other, possibly closer and more familiar phenomena. This mapping originated in
human sensory perceptions (visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory) and
a temporal and/or locational framework, i.e. the human perception of time and
space which was related to human features and divine and demonic forces, and
the way in which these were conceptualized and articulated.
Certain examples from this lexical and semantic group demonstrate that
the symbolic value of a plant, as expressed in its name, is less relevant if it is
named on the basis of a direct sensory perception. For example, vranji luk (lit.
black onion, Eng. onion) is merely the opposite of beli luk (lit. white onion, Eng.
garlic). The aesthetic, sacral and medicinal value of the plants named in this
way is secondary or almost redundant. However, there are no strict boundaries
in place here, because source domains may sometimes have multiple referential
(and symbolic) values. With other plant names, however, the symbolic value may
be foregrounded. For example, Bogorodičina trava (lit. Mother of God’s grass,
Eng. St John’s Wort) encodes a divine force which is, among other things, related
to its medicinal effect – the plant regulates the menstrual cycle and helps cure
infertility (cf. Колосова 2009: 11).
Sensory perceptions, while influencing formation of a worldview, “which
is then transformed into a corresponding statement and sent [...] to other people
so that they can comprehend it” (Ivić 2006: 53), also can be seen to have played
a central role in naming plants. These perceptions bring the plants and the world
that surrounds them into a relation of mutual dependence. Visual impressions,
such as the colour, size and shape of a plant – which to a human being are its
6 “Our concepts structure what we perceive, how we get around in the world, and how we relate
to other people. Our conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining our everyday realities”
(Lakoff–Johnsen 2003: 3).
7 Typical source domains are, for example, the human body, animals, plants, buildings, machines
… (cf. Драгићевић 1997: 90).
9
most striking features, are the most dominant source of naming elements in
this process. The colour8 of plants, the colour they produce9, or their combined
features, such as the colour of the plant product and purpose,10 provide the most
common motivation for the names of plants in the “Rječnik”.
In the process of naming plants, folk perception often reduces this variety
of colours to the white-and-black dichotomy, differentiating between light
and dark entities11 and assigning a secondary importance to their aesthetic and
symbolic value. In this opposition, with the colour white, a kind of hypernym
becomes possible – bjelica (bjeli/white). Wheat, a plum, an apple or a cherry may
be designated as being white, and this colour is considered to hold an elevated
position in relation to the colour black: white can be considered positively
marked because “white is associated with light and the generative power of milk”
(Раденковић 1996: 281)12, to cite one example of its positive attributes. It is this
whiteness, as well as the liquidity of its sap that generated the name of the plant
млечика (lit. млеч/milky; Eng. willowherb), and because of the similarity of the
sap to milk, it is ascribed a magical power to help and maintain cows’ production
of milk. The importance of milk and dairy products in human nutrition is
recognized in the ritual act of making an offering to mlečika: “one buries a piece
of ritual bread and salt underneath the plant saying: I give you salt and bread, you
give me milk and cheese” (Чајкановић 1985: 174–175).
The colour gold also occupies a special place in the naming of plants, with a
clear symbolism – high value, glow and preciousness (Колосова 2001: 44). Thus,
the name of the plant zlatoglav (lit. golden head, Eng. tiger lily), also known as
orange lily (Lat. lilium bulbiferum), in addition to describing the plant’s flowers,
also indicates this plant’s high sacral power in the folk consciousness; primarily
it is used in love magic and the fertility cult. Goldenhead/Tiger lily was gathered
on Plant Friday, early before sunrise on St George’s Day, so that girls could wash
their faces with it (and thus become golden as well), saying: “goldenhead – may
8 Colours are one of the elements traditional culture uses to build a model of the world, and their
symbolism is usually complemented with the symbolism of the entity (cf. Раденковић1996: 275).
Examples of such names: bjelica, bijelo zelje, bjelograb bjelojabuka, bjelošljiva (bijelo=white);
vranjak, vranjii luk (vran=black); zelenkada (zelen=green); žutokora (žuto=yellow);
zlatica, zlatoglav (zlat=golden); crvenjača (crven=red); crnograb (crn=black); šarenika
(šaren=multicoloured).
9 Vranilova trava (lit. black grass) and žutilova trava (lit. yellow grass), although derivationally
the same, are semantically differentiated in terms of whether the plant colour contained in its name
is identical with its purpose, i.e. product: both plants were used to dye cloth before synthetic colours
were discovered. In vranilovka, the dominant feature is the product (the plant colours wool black),
whereas with žutilovka the plant and its product are of the same colour. Cf. Скок (1971: 618):
“Denominal ending in -iti vraniti, vranim (o-), navraniti, -anim”.
10 For example, žutilovka, žutilova trava (lit. yellow grass). According to Шкаљић (1966: 449):
мавез < Turkish mavi bez - плави без, плаво памучно ткање (blue material, blue cotton weave;
Turkish. mavi < ар. māʼī боје као вода (of the colour of water).
11 This dichotomy is believed to be a linguistic universal (see Ивић 1995: 62 and Вјежбицка
1996: 232, in Поповић 2001:15).
12 On the semantics of the colours white and black in folklore, see Поповић 2001: 17–19.
10
it be golden” (Брканлија Касаблија 1903: 168). The symbolism of this plant

can also be identified in ritual acts performed while the plant was gathered (cf.
Чајкановић 1985: 101–102). The following was the verbal component of the
ritual:
Златноглаве, златне ли си главе / Goldenhead, golden is your head
Ти ми знадеш тридест и три траве / Thirty three grasses you know
(Милићевић 1894: 118)
The preciousness of gold is transferred onto the value of the plant and the
way its power is understood. This can be seen in the following magical practice:
“In the villages near Šabac, girls wear it to endear themselves to boys, and young
wives wear it for their husbands” (Софрић 1990: 101). To cite another example,
“goldenhead bulbs are worn to prevent languishment, fever and ‘every weakness’”
(Чајкановић 1985: 102). The relationship between the lily and the Mother of
God13 is also relevant when it comes to attributing the value of gold to the Fire lily,
as gold and the Mother of God have similar symbolisms. It can therefore be said
that this text is multi-codal (cf. Толстој 1995: 57), with combined verbal, object
and action symbolism.14 On the other hand, in the name of the plant zlatica (zlato/
gold, Eng. European goldenrod) the colour gold has a predominantly perceptual
motivational base. This is shown by Karadžić’s comment in the entry for this
plant: “at the bottom, the blades of this plant are hairy and yellow like gold, and
on the top they are green and smooth. People say it is good for cancer (živina)”.15
Other sensory perceptions are also, of course, involved in the naming of
plants. The tactile perceptions that feature in the names of plants in the Rječnik
are often combined with impressions acquired by other sensory organs (as in the
explanation of the characteristics of zlatica) and are usually related to a pleasant
or unpleasant experience of touching the plant (badalj, bodalj, bodljača, bodljika
(bod/thorn): mekača, mekо žito, mekorka (mek/soft); žara (žar/ember). Smell
as a source of plant names in the Rječnik is negatively marked when it is related
to an experience with the plant (smrdljika,16 lit. smelly plant, Eng. turpentine
tree). In contrast, the olfactory senses produce rather varied names (grčica, (grč/
13 According to Половина (2014: 54), it is also a symbol of purity, innocence and virginity, as
well as an expression of metamorphosis and reproduction.
14 The terms and their interpretation here are according to Толстој 1995: 59.
15 Among other meanings, regarding this word živina, Karadžić’s Rječnik also states “1) cancer,
carcinoma”.
16 Rječnik gives the following explanation of this plant: “(In Montenegro) People say that oil
grew on this tree until an emperor hanged an innocent man on it”. In Herzegovina, it is believed that
Judas hanged himself on this tree (Томић in Чајкановић (1985: 221)). Another plant with a similar
name, smrdljivac (Lat. Pelargonium), was used to dispell bad charms from a hunter “who for a long
time cannot catch anything”. On the eve of a Wednesday or a Friday, a fortune teller would “‘crush
this plant in a bowl and then soak it in water and leave it outside overnight, and then in the early
morning pour it through the barrel of a gun three times while repeating the incantation ‘rub all the
parts of the rifle’” (СЕЗ, 32, 1925: 347 in Чајкановић (1985: 310)). All this is indicative of the
importance of the plant’s smell, which is the basis for its name and its ritual powers.
11
bitter); kiselo дрво (sour tree), ljutak, ljutika (ljut/angry), medenica, medun (med/
honey), sladun, slačica (slad/sweet). The plant world is generally soundless, and
therefore auditory perceptions do not generate many plant names, except in the
rare case of a sort of apple, called zukvaja (zuk – a rattling sound onomatopoeia;
Eng. European crab apple), which Karadžić explains “is a sort of a sweet apple
whose seeds rattle when one shakes it”.
The personified floral environment which is a feature of the plant world
present in the Rječnik clearly demonstrates a strong relationship between plants
and the characteristics of human beings. The source domain is a real or supernatural
being, which in the naming of certain plants reflects the mental conceptualization
a plant is a man17/ a deity / a demon (or A PART OF A DEMON). In a name
composed of two elements, this being is the possessor (e.g. mother, grandmother
or czar) who reflects a type of relationship, of blood, family and/or social, in
the traditional culture18. The other element in the name (e.g. vila, Bogorodica
or Gospa/Mother of God or Our Lady, or Bog/God) refers to unearthly beings
with supernatural powers which correlate with certain characteristics of the
plant. The possessum of these powers can be an integral part of a being (duša/
soul, uho/ear, kosa or vlas/hair, žila/vein), a plant (cvet/flower, luk/onion, trava/
grass, bilje or zelje/herbs, lan/linseed), or an artefact (sito/sieve, plahtica/small
bedsheet, kapica/small cap). Karadžić’s Rječnik also contains the following plant
names which are conceptualized as beings, i.e. entities which a human being, a
deity or a demon possesses: babina dušica (lit. grandmother’s soul, Eng. thyme),
babino uho (lit. grandmother’s ear, Eng. scarlet elf cap), visibaba (lit. hanging
grandmother, Eng. snowdrop), lepi čovjek (lit. handsome man, Eng. youth-
and-old age), majkina dušica (lit. mother’s soul, Eng. thyme), carev cvijet (lit.
czar’s flower, Eng. camomile); popino guvno (lit. priest’s threshing floor, Eng.
dandelion), popina kapica (lit. priest’s cap, Eng. spindle); vilina kosa (lit. vila’s
hair, Eng. pheasant’s eye), vilin luk (lit. vila’s onion, Eng. tassel hyacinth), vilino
sito (lit. vila’s sieve, Eng. sliver thistle); Bogorodičina trava (lit. Mother of God’s
grass, Eng. St John’s Wort), Bogorodičin lan (lit. Mother of God’s linseed, Eng.
toadflax), Bogorodičino cvijeće (lit. Mother of God’s flower, Eng. lily), Božja
17 Kolosko (Колосько 2010: 69–77) wrote about the plant-human relationship and concluded that
this type of metaphorization might be universal.
18 In relation to phytonyms and kinship terms, Bjelatić notes that there are three categories:
(a) names which are directly etymologically related to kinship terms (most commonly baba/
grandmother and deda/grandfather),
(b) names which are not etymologically related with kinship terms, but were created as para-
etymological connection with them, and
(c) names with a completely different type of motivation, which are based on a folk belief, as in
the case of majčina dušica (lit. mother’s soul, Eng. thyme). According to a legend, the children of
a deceased mother found a tiny fragrant flower on her grave, which was a metamorphosis of their
mother’s soul (cf. Бјелетић 1996: 89–101).
This somewhat rigid typology is relativized by plant varieties with several possible lexemes in the
position of the possessum - as in the example of thyme, which in Serbian has two variants: majkina
or bakina dušica, i.e. mother’s or grandmother’s soul (cf. Чајкановић 1985: 170).
12
plahtica (lit. God’s small sheet, Eng. bible leaf), Gospino bilje/zelje (lit. Our
Lady’s herb, Eng. licorice), Gospina vlas (lit. Our Lady’s hair, Eng. maidenhair
fern).
There is an implicit divine attribute in the name of plant bogiša (bog/
God), also known as perunika. Both of these variants relate to God/Perun, and
their divine connection is confirmed by a ritual practice: this plant is taken to the
church to be blessed on May 1st, a day which once may have been devoted to the
Slavic God Perun (Чајкановић 1985: 33).
The magic power of some plants is signified by an adjectival attribute
related to a vila: vilin/vilina/vilino (vila’s). This indicates a belief that the plant
shares some of the characteristics of this liminal being whose origin “should be
traced to a forgotten mythical being with characteristics of a fertility goddess,
which at some time during the year also acquired chthonic attributes” (Карановић
2010: 297). The folk belief about the herb called vilina kosa (vila’s hair) is that
it is in fact vilas’ hair, and that vilas dance on it. As a result of this dancing, the
plant has the magical power to cure the illnesses caused by samovilas (Slavic
wood goddesses) (cf. Чајкановић 1985: 302)19. People also believed that the
plant vilino sito (lit. vila’s sieve, Eng. stemless carline thistle) had protective
power: in this case, the attribute indicated a positive aspect of this liminal being,
as Karadžić noted in his dictionary: “A kind of herb which, when worn on the
body, prevented harm from enemies, especially through lies or fabrications.”
Human features, actions and somatisms can be recognized in derivatives
used in plant names such as stidak (stid-shame), srčika (srč-srce/heart), plućnjak
(pluća/lungs), čučavac (čučati/to squat), ležak (ležati/lie) and pljuca (pljucnuti/
to spit). In compounds such as čuvarkuća (čuvar/guard, kuća/house), hladolež
(hlad/shade, lež/ležati/lie) and stokoža (sto/hundred, koža/skin) there is a clear
concept of a plant capable of having feelings, doing something or being in a
certain state, like a human being. This leads to the conclusion that the picture
of the world upon which the names of plants are based also includes emotions
which are in the domain of abstract concepts (such as shame, as is the case in
one of the above-cited plant names, for example). Karadžić’s commentary on the
lexeme stidak (Eng. White lace flower), however, implies that the physiological
manifestation of the emotion (Apresjan’s fifth phase20), i.e. redness in the face
caused by the feeling of shame, is also relevant in the plant name: “This herb has
white flowers with a little bit of red in the middle; Serbs say that the red used to
19 In the region of Leskovačka Morava, people “put a cake made of a flour sifted through a sieve
turned upside down, a lump of sugar, and some sick person’s clothes next to this plant, then, the
following day, they look at the cake; if it has been tried, the sick person will get better; if it has not,
he or she will die” (Чајкановић 1985: 302).
20 According to this understanding of the so-called ‘emotion scripts’ in the reconstruction of
the picture of the world, the first phase is the source of the emotion, the second is its immediate
stimulus, the third phase is the emotion proper, the fourth is the desire to prolong it or to check it,
and the fifth is its external manifestation, which can be an uncontrolled physical reaction of the
body to the stimulus (Apresjan in Драгићевић 2010: 162–163).
13
be bigger, but is shrinking each day: this is because shame is already disappearing
in people”. It can be deduced from this comment that this emotion was clearly
appreciated by the Serbs, and is implicitly related to the system of moral values
in which personal integrity occupied a high position.
Humans performing actions feel and perceive the features of the
environment and their own existence in two dimensions – space and time. They
then translate this into a plant’s name according to its habitat or its season of
growth, vegetation and blossoming. Material excerpted from the “Rječnik” shows
that the temporal code is more dominant in the naming of plants than the spatial
code. Primacy is accorded to a member of an opposition such as winter-summer
or night-day, or to weather conditions (zimnjača, zimolist, ozimac, ozimo žito,
ozimica (zima/winter), jarica (jara/heat); mrazova sestrica, mrazovnik (mraz/
frost), rosulja (rosa/dew), pljuskavica (pljusak/shower); noćurak (noć/night)).
The most frequent word here is zima/winter, referring to the vegetation period, as
opposed to jarica (a type of wheat also known as jaro žito) which is sown when
it is hot – or as Karadžić stated in the Rječnik about this lexeme “posijao žito na
jar/he sowed wheat when it was warm” – in the period for sowing, i.e. in spring
or summer, according to Skok’s interpretation (Skok 1971:755).The material
analysed from the Rječnik also shows that the landmark for temporal orientation
can sometimes be another plant, as is the case with the pear called ječmača
(ječam/barley), which ripens at the time when barley is usually harvested. This
indicates that there is a hierarchy of plants in folk consciousness, depending on
the presence of a particular plant in the diet of human beings or the animals
they breed, as well as on the magical power ascribed to it. Barley, for example,
precedes other offerings on Christmas Eve, and it is showered on the yule log
before it is cut (cf. Чајкановић 1985: 124).21
When a plant is being named, it may be considered to be a reflection of
nature related to animals, which, in their variety and striking physiognomy, are
suitable sources for the names of lesser known plants. Thus, certain parts of plants
- their morphology more than anything else - are compared with the appearance
of certain animals or parts of their bodies, and it is these that are mapped in the
naming of the plant, as illustrated by the following examples: volovski jezik (lit.
oxtongue, Eng. starflower), volovsko oko22 (lit. oxeye, Eng. oxeye daisy), vranino
oko (lit. crow’s eye, Eng. herb Paris), zečje uvo (lit. rabbit’s ear, Eng. lamb’s ear),
konjsko kopito (lit. horse’s hoof, Eng. coltsfoot), košutina brada (lit. dear’s beard,
Eng. great yellow gentian), petlova kresta (lit. & Eng. cockscomb), mačji rep (lit.
cat’s tail, Eng. Timothy-grass), mačkov brk (lit. tomcat’s whisker, Eng. black-
cumin), mačkovo uho (lit. tomcat’s ear, Eng. woodcock bee-orchid) and orlovi
21 There is an interesting folk etymology for ječam in Serbian: a ritual act is performed on St
George’s Day, when girls roll on barley to make boys moan for them (ječam, n, ječati, v. /barley-
moan; cf. Чајкановић 1985: 124).
22 Dubrovina draws attention to the semantic component ‘big’ in discussing a metaphor in the
naming of a plant with the possessor-attribute ‘ox’ (Дубровина 2010: 63).
14
nokti (lit. eagleye, Eng. goat-leaf honeysuckle). Alternatively, the animal may
be perceived as the possessor of a plant and may be lexicalized as an attribute
in a syntagmatic relation, as the following examples illustrate: vrapčje sjeme
(lit. sparrow’s seed, Eng. common gromwell), žablja trava (lit. frog’s herb, Eng.
common groundsel), zečiji mak (lit. rabbit’s poppy, Eng. summer pheasant’s-
eye), zečiji trn (lit. rabbit’s thorn, Eng. spiny restharrow), zmijina trava (lit.
snake’s herb, Eng. milk thistle), konjski bosiljak (lit. horse’s basil, Eng. horse
mint), kornjačina trava (lit. turtle’s grass, Eng. mad-dog weed), macina trava (lit.
kitty’s grass, Eng. white horehound) and medvjeđa lijeska (lit. bear’s hazel, Eng.
Turkish hazel).
However, the names of plants often fall outside the scope of the simple type
of mapping animal (or its body part) – plant and go deeper into the symbolism
and stereotypes about some animals. In this case, mythological features may also
be ascribed to plants, since the majority of animal names used in plant naming
in Slavic cultures have high mythological and sacral status (see Гура 2005).
The frog, for example, occupies a special place in Slavic ethnological culture
and is a source of both mythological identifications and living ‘metaphors’ (cf.
Малоха 2009: 49). It is an amphibian, and therefore belongs to the group of
liminal animals, so potential fear of it23 could lead to a belief that it has some of
the characteristics of dangerous chthonic creatures (cf. Раденковић 1996: 159)24.
This belief can be seen in the reputed powers of the plant called frog’s herb,
whose morphology and yellow and green colour mean that it has been named
with reference to its similarity to a frog, and its habitat is also related to the places
this animal resides – deserted places, old fallen walls and ruins.
The Rječnik also contains the names of real and imaginary plants which
were believed to have opiate and magical powers (benđeluk/henbane, vratič/
tansy, vratolom (lit. neckbreaking plant – a fictional plant), zdravac/cranesbill,
kopitnjak/hazelwort, kostolom (lit. bone-breaking plant – a fictional plant, Eng.
Agrimony) and raskovnik/laserwort). Additionally, it includes the names of plants
used in rituals – and the name these are given is related to their desired effect or
their temporal or spatial aspect.
The power of henbane, which Karadžić translated as herba soporifera,
“sleeping plant”25, is explained in Karadžić’s following comment: “a herb that
is put into wine and plum brandy to inebriate and make the drinker sleep as if
dead”. According to a widespread belief, people who taste it lose their mind.
23 The taboo quality of this word (and concept) is evident in Karadžić’s comment regarding the
lexeme frog: “One should not mention frogs near small children; if it accidentally happens, then
somebody should pull the child by the ear and smack their lips [...] and to the person who mentioned
it, one should say ‘may it bite off your ears!’ [...] people say that these frogs should not be killed
because the house of the one who kills it would be burned down.”
24 On the complex symbolism of the frog in Slavic culture see Гура 2005: 282-291.
25 The Turkish word for this plant has the meaning ‘plant that puts one to sleep’. Another Serbian
name for this plant is bunika, whose etymology has been explained by Klajn and Šipka: Turkish
beng from Persian beng, benc, from Arabic bänğ, буника (Клајн–Шипка 2007: 199).
15
The same belief about this plant is confirmed in poems (Геземан 1925: No. 49
and 136; Караџић 1841, No. 724; 1845, No. 30). As mentioned above, vratolom
and kostolom are herba ficta, and are present in the following verses cited by
Karadžić: Kad nabrala kostoloma, / Kostoloma, vratoloma (When she gathered
kostolom, / Kostolom, vratolom). These plants were considered to be very strong
and were used in love magic; the poem from which the above verses were taken,
and which was later printed in full (Karadžić 1841/1975: No. 480) shows this
clearly. There was a belief about vratolom according to which “in the nights when
plants are particularly powerful, vilas would pick the mythical plant vratolom
right under the noses of mortal women” (Чајкановић 1985: 302). Kostolom too
was so powerful, according to Karadžić, that the minute the plant began to boil
in the pot, the person targeted by its magic had to turn back from wherever he
was; if he was very far away, he would return riding a reed (instead of a horse)”
(Karadžić 1841/1975: 324). All the information the Rječnik provides about vratič
(lit. turn back, Eng. tansy) are its alternate names: vratić, povratič, umanika
(tanacetum crispum). It is a medicinal but also poisonous plant from the aster
family “which magically turned things back to how they were, before they were
disturbed by somebody else’s magic. Different plants went by the same name.
Vratič was picked on Plant Friday and was used to cast spells” (Чајкановић 4,
1994: 59). The verbal component of the ritual went as follows: “Selin, da odseli
/ Kupina da otkupi / A vratika da odvrne / Od svaka zla, od svaka naprata”26 /
Lovage to move away, Blackberry to buy out / And tansy to unscrew / From every
evil, from every demon (Раденковић 1982: No. 585). Another poem was recorded
about the same function of this plant, in which a mother comforts her daughter,
telling her that she would go into the mountain:
Dok popuhnu jugovine / When the south wind starts blowing
I okopne stranurine, / And thaws the mountain slopes,
Ja ćʼ uzeti motičinu, / I’ll take a hoe,
Pa ćʼ kopati trojgʼа bilja, / And pick three plants,
[...]
Obrniče i vratiče./ Obrnič and vratič.
(Рајковић 1869: 96–97) 27
Another name for vratić (and tanacetum balsamita or costmary) is

kaloper, which was also used in magical acts which were based on etymological
relations between words and their phonetic correspondences (Врчевић 1888: 43;
Милићевић 1894: 118): on St George’s and St John the Baptist’s Day a formula
was recited: “kalopera, da me ne oćera” (Врчевић 1888: 43). This also shows
how widespread was the belief in magical power of words, or in the coupling of
phonetically corresponding lexemes in one utterance. Sisters Janković also offer
26 These verses are based on antonymous word play: selin – odseli, kupina – otkupi, vratika –
odvrne, where the prefix od-/ot- has the meaning of ‛undo’ (Translator’s note).
27 See Карановић 2013: 157–166.
16
evidence of plants in love magic which relies on formulae containing lexemes

with similar phonetic grouping. Describing Kraljica rituals28 (Јанковић 1952:
39) in Leskovac region, they note that girls ornamented their flags with hazelwort
(Serb. kopitnjak) – so that boys would pine (Serb. kopneti) after them, and with
cranesbill (zdravac) – so that everybody is healthy (Serb. zdrav). The name of
the herb raskovnik (Eng. laserwort) is etymologically related to the verb kovati
(to forge) and is associative of its power to open (Serb. raskovati) every lock;
this power features in many beliefs and oral stories (Чајкановић 1985: 309).
In his Rječnik, Karadžić says that it is: “a (possibly imaginary) herb believed to
have the power to open any lock or anything closed if the is touched using it. It
is especially cherished by those hunting for buried treasure, because this kind of
money, especially if there is a lot of it, is sealed in in such a way that it cannot
be opened and dug out without this plant.” From the above, it can be concluded
that the magical features ascribed to some plants are reflected in a perception of
their real or imaginary powers, which is most transparently visible in their names.
There are two plants in the Rječnik whose names are correlated with folk
holidays and saints and are used for ritual purposes: ivanjsko cvijeće (lit. St John’s
flowers, Eng. lady’s bedstraw) and vidovnjača (lit. vid/sight, Eng. eyebright). The
former is related to a custom performed on the Eve of St John’s Day or on the day
itself, because it is believed that plants picked on this day have special powers
(Тановић 1927: 73). Girls or married women pick these flowers, weave them
into garlands and put them on houses, fields, animal pens and so on. The belief
that this plant has special magical and healing powers is also demonstrated by
the custom of pulling a sickly child through a garland of these flowers so that it
becomes stronger (cf. Чајкановић 1985: 105). In contrast to the name of ivanjsko
cijeće, which has both magical and temporal semantic and symbolic meaning,
vidovnjača indicates only the time when apples or pears grow ripe – Vidovdan /
St Vitus Day. Lexemes with the same root as vidovnjača, e.g. vidičak, vidovača,
vidovka, vidovčevica and vidovita trava, all derived from the verb videti (see),
indicate healing and medicinal power. For example, Karadžić, in his Rječnik,
has the following to say about vidovita trava/eyebright: “the dried herb is put
into the eye, the raw form is squeezed and dripped into it”. The magical powers
of this plant, also contained in its name, include prophesying and casting charms
on St Vitus Day, when girls used to ask the plant to reveal their future husbands
(Милићевић 1894: 132). This is also contained in the saying “Sveti Vide i
vidovita travo, otvorite mi oči da vidim svoga suđenoga”/St Vitus and eyebright,
open my eyes so that I can see the one destined for me (Драгићевић 1907: 40;
Петровић 1948: 247; Недељковић 1990: 56).
Folk etymology in general, plant life included, as illustrated by the
examples from Karadžić’s Rječnik, is almost always the main stimulus for the
generation of more complex units – plays, rituals and plots (cf. Толстој 1995: 72)
28 Kraljice – a ritual procession associated with fertility, held on Pentecost (Translator’s note)
17
– and for understanding very diverse semantic fields transposed into the lexical
system. Before clear taxonomies and stable nomenclatures were established, the
variety and abundance of flora inspired human beings, who, judging from floral
names at least, knew them less well than other concrete realia in the immediate
environment. Plants were therefore named based on their colour, form or habitat,
because the human consciousness recognized them as related to the perceptions
and entities it knew, retaining only the possibility of naming them (šarenika/
šaren-multicoloured, vranilovka/vran-black; volovsko oko/oxeye). Another layer
of meaning within plant names emerged from the field of associations, with
plants acquiring a symbolic function based on familiar characteristics which were
transferred onto the plant (zlat(n)oglav/goldenhead, stidak/stid-shame). A special
group in Karadžić’s Rječnik consists of plants which through their medicinal or
ascribed magical powers became important because of the way their function
was perceived; these were awarded divine or demonic attributes (Gospina trava/
Our Lady’s herb, vilina kosa/vila’s hair, vilino sito/vila’s sieve). And finally, a
ritual function played by a plant may be reflected in its name, most obviously in
formulae containing similar sounding elements, usually lexemes derived from
identical roots (raskovnik: kovati/ras-apart kovati-forge; kopitnjak: kopniti//
kopito-hoof, kopniti-melt or zdravac-zdrav/zdrav-healthy). Since there are no
clear boundaries in extralinguistic reality, names cannot easily be based on just
one source i.e. a motivational base, nor can the function of a plant be seen only in
terms of its name. In this sense, Karadžić’s Rječnik is more than just a database of
the existing lexis and its meanings. It is a source of information on interpretations
of the world, of the ability of human beings to judge and determine the value
of the phenomena which surround them. Although the lexis used in the names
of plants is just a segment of this reality, it is a highly effective indicator of the
cognitive processes and cultural values of a given time.
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John Benjamins.
Translated by: Borislava Eraković

Copy editor: Alison Kapor
20
THE THIRD DAY. THE ORIGIN AND FEATURES OF PLANTS
UDC 821.163.41.09-343:398
398(=163.41):58
University of Belgrade
Faculty of Philology
Markosoft91@gmail.com
THE THIRD DAY. THE ORIGIN AND FEATURES OF

PLANTS IN FOLK RENDITIONS*
No completely preserved cosmogonic myth exists in the Serbian tradition. Instead, there
are numerous etiological legends, which serve to interpret natural phenomena and the
characteristics of living beings. This fact was highlighted early on by Karadžić, who
grouped together thematically kindred texts under the classification of stories about
the origin of some things. The influence of Christianization is clearly apparent in these
stories. God, the Mother of God, the saints and the devil test humans, animals and plants,
and the effects of their punishment and/or reward are long-lasting. This paper focuses on
the genre characteristics of those Serbian narratives which are concerned with the origin
and features of plants.
Key terms: etiological legends, legends, beliefs, plants, morphology of shapes, mythology,
Christianization.
I Models of etiological narratives about plants

Narratives about the genesis and features of flora are most often structured
as legends1. The explanations that these contain are sometimes succinct, delivering
a kind of condensed ancestral experience. These etiological miniatures may stand
on their own or be components of a longer narrative chain. In this latter case, one
more or less developed etiological segment becomes an episode in a complex
composition, where the features of trees, plants and herbs are to a great extent
secondary. Independently of their structure or position in the text or genre, what
these variants have in common is that they are designed to provide a truthful
and objective representation and interpretation of concrete natural phenomena
(Милошевић-Ђорђевић 2000: 117). They are extremely pragmatic, whether the
event they depict explains the natural order or emphasizes the ethical norms of a
group.
*
This paper is the fruit of research undertaken as part of the project Српско усмено стваралаштво
у интеркултурном коду [Serbian Folklore in Intercultural Code] at the Institute for Literature
and Art in Belgrade. The project is supported by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and
Technological Advancement.
1 According to the international classification, there are mythological, demonological, etiological,
eschatological, cultural-historical and Christian legends.
21
The systematization of these texts is difficult, as a result of several factors:

the sheer abundance of the material, the ways in which they are stylized, and the
genre flexibility of legends. In addition to this, several plants may be depicted as
having originated in the same way, and the origin of one and the same species
may be interpreted in different ways.
Even if we take the minimal structural unit to be an episode of an etiological
legend, there are both related tendencies and seemingly conflicting ones. The
narrative focus may be on:
1) an explanation of the origin and physical characteristics of plants (e.g.
their shape, colour or smell), which anyone can see for themselves – orientation
past > present,
2) an explanation of the (marvellous) features of a plant that everyone
believes in, although they are difficult to prove – orientation past < future,
3) a special type of rendition which connects the above elements, so that
the marvellous/medicinal plant features can be confirmed by a recent event –
orientation past > future.
These variants have similar morphological features: a limited number of
actors, some functions (acts) and a chronotope. When an event is “placed” in
the distant past and in an undefined space, the consequences of the situation are
visible forever, everywhere and to everyone. Perception of a natural phenomenon
drives the development of the plot. For example, the leaves of the aspen or white
poplar always flutter in the wind, the fir tree is evergreen, and the branches of the
willow hang downwards (a). The central segment is related to the circumstances
of the “change” (b), and these answer the question of why a particular plant has
a particular set of features. Thus, the aspen may be cursed by the Mother of God
because of its disobedience or its refusal to help (Караџић 1969: 179; Mилићевић
1984: 57; Ђорђевић 1900: 149); St Sava dreams his last dream under a fir tree
and his blessing makes it evergreen (Ћоровић 1927: 271, 115; Биљке I: 145);
and the willow hides the Mother of God from her pursuers or weeps with her
after the crucifixion of Christ (which explains its name in Serbian, žalosna vrba
/ grieving willow), so its branches are bent toward the soil (Lovretić 1902: 195–
196). The final formula underlines/confirms the consequences, i.e. corresponds
with the features of the plant (a¹), and in this way influences the attitude of the
group towards the truthfulness of the explanation (and the belief). A segment
may stand alone or may be a component of a narrative chain, but it has a simple
morphology:
(a)event = acquisition of a feature (b) а¹
There is another type of structural organization for a minimal plant legend
which is even simpler. In it, when and how a plant acquired its outstanding feature
is not explained; it is taken as being clearly evident that it has been the outcome
of some (mysterious) past events. Still, the past and present rarely provide proof
22
that this is true, as only the desired change in the (near) future can persuasively
confirm its magical power.
а “rule”/action = confirmation of the feature а¹
In this type of legend, flora also becomes associated with the paranormal.
Their secrets are known by mythical creatures (especially floral vilas, but also
St John the Baptist, in Serbian known as Sv. Jovan Biljober2) and animals (e.g.
tortoises, hedgehogs, birds or snakes; Чајкановић 1985: 115). If people want to
master this information, they have to be cunning and deceitful or persistent and
brave. A plant is usually acquired accidentally and inadvertently (and is quickly
lost; Bogdan-Bijelić 1908: 308; Pavićević 1930), or can also be acquired by doing
everything “according to the prescriptions” inherited from the ancestors.
These stories easily become intertwined with mythological legends, and
a special type of rendition is realized through change in localization and the
reduction of a species to one single plant type and one single plant. Trees attain a
special status through associations with a sacral space (e.g. a church or a grave)
or with significant personalities from a national or a local tradition. For example,
a Turkish oak became taboo because it grew from the grave mound of the founder
of the Drekalović family tribe (the Montenegrin village of Lješ, Pavićević 1932:
128). For centuries after the destruction of a sacred building or the death of a
ruler, people would not use the forests on the church’s or the ruler’s estate3. These
spaces were strictly taboo and everybody respected this because of a belief that
any attempt to claim or damage the space would prove fatal.
II The origin and physical features of flora
The origin of plant species in ancient Greek mythology is related to the
gods, their mutual conflicts and their dealings with mortals4. Serbian etiological
narratives are also concerned with the spiritual realm: the significance of God, the
Mother of God (Чајкановић 1985: 259; Колосова 2009: 93–94), Christ and the
saints, devils, vilas and witches. Independently of who the agents in an etiological
legend are, the events described are not qualified as miracles; this applies when
God changes the shape of an onion, whose underground part then becomes edible
(Ћоровић 1927: 244), or simply gives people the gift of wheat from the sky
(Ђорђевић 1988: 355). The powers of supernatural forces are understood as
2 Biljober/lit. Plant picker is one of the names of this saint (Недељковић 1990: 101, 282).
3 This was the case with Draguska church after the great Serb migration of 1737 (Ђорђевић 1901:
145) and Prince Lazar’s estate near Temnic in Central Serbia (Самарџија 2009: VI).
4 The Heliades, for example, turn into poplars, and their tears transform into amber. Lotus’s
body turns into the lotus, the nymph Clytia becomes the cyclamen/sunflower, and Daphne, the
laurel. Sometimes the plant species is named after the being it originated from. Apart from narcissus
(Narcissus), the origin of the cypress (Cyparissus), mint (Minthe) and the myrtle (Myrrha) is
interpreted in the same way. The metamorphosis can be a consequence of a mistake, a punishment,
salvation from violence or an outcome of love or lust, but it may also be a reward earned by
mortals – which is how the linden tree and the oak are believed to have originated (from Baucis and
Philemon; Срејовић–Цермановић 1979).
23
being their typical features; the purpose of characters and events is to explain
nature and the human being’s position within it.
The plots of these legends are sometimes focused on transgressions made by
plants, and in this case their features result from the decisions and words of (good and
bad) supernatural forces. The denouement is consistently marked by a blessing and/or
a curse, whose effects determine the future of an entire plant species (Усачёва 2010:
130–131). These effects are always permanent, they can be observed on the flora
of a particular area, and a human being may also play a crucial role. For example,
trees used to come to people until an old woman went too far with her requests
(Тројановић 1930: 13; Самарџија 2009: 28, 128). The size of the wheat grain and
ear or the colour of a flower may change, as a result of the disappearance of shame
and considerateness and the multiplication of the sins of humanity (Ђорђевић 1988:
473, 355; Стојановић 1901: 136; Караџић 1969: 177).
The features of plants rarely originate from the time of Genesis in the Old
Testament, although, according to the biblical chronology, plants are the oldest
living things on Earth. Sacral and mythical ancient time becomes “historized”
in several ways, mostly through human actions, in the sphere of material culture
(for example, the building of the first watermill), or by introducing a character
from national history (e.g. Stefan Nemanja – Tsar Nemanja, St Sava or Prince
Lazar). In temporal scheme terms, the origin of plants is in the ancient past.
This is what is signified by formulae such as: When God created the world or
When God walked on earth. The idea of a golden time of humanity contains
similar semantic potential. This golden age is highlighted through the carefree
and easy lives of people or the hyperbolized shapes of herbs, plants and trees.
A hyperbola can encompass the whole life of a human being, as when people
are said to be 100, 150 or 300 or more years old, and to remember better times
(Ђорђевић 1988: 473, 355). The authority of the elderly is also implicated in
instances where ancestors (e.g. grandfather or father) are invoked in stories that
emphasize experience acquired over time. The position of the storyteller within
the chronology is also underlined in some cases: “My late father saw it with his
own eyes” (Ardalić 1902: 289) or “I witnessed it; as an old man I ran a bar for
some twenty-five years” (Марковић 2004: 96).
The shared knowledge of the group about important New Testament
events represents a special type of chronotope “concretization”. Stories from the
“folk Bible”5 are semantic nodes, formed through the amalgamation of religious
systems. The temporal scheme of these stories represents the liminal moments of
the pagan agrarian calendar, Christianized. The time of the year is determined by
the birth of Christ, his death and resurrection. Still, the circumstances surrounding
these intervals cannot change all of nature, which had already been created prior
to them. Such a power has not been granted even to the Almighty himself – once
5 The “Folk Bible” consists of folklore interpretations of legends from the Old and New Testament
(Сиднева 2010: 121).
24
the universe had been created (a long time ago), the Lord could only modify the
established order.
In this amalgamation of folk and biblical belief, the circumstances crucial
for the fate of plants become temporal markers. Rock cranesbill did not exist
before the sweat drops from the Mother of God’s face fell to the earth as she was
pursued with the new-born Christ in her arms (Софрић 1990: 144, 191). Roses
were white until Christ was crucified, and their colour changed after his blood
was spilt on Golgotha (Софрић 1990: 98). A twist in a series of events always
has the status of a milestone. For a particular plant (and human being), time is
“divided” into periods before and after the event narrated, and the effects are
permanent – for all time.
The strength of words from the Old Testament reappears in a considerably
changed form. A fully developed or sketchy story (a plant, for example, may
give or withhold help to a bee or to the Mother of God; Самарџија 2009: 18,
Lovretić 1902: 195–196) motivates the account of the main character. However,
the world is not created in this way, rather, the appearance of an already created
plant can be changed by blessings and curses. The plants’ actions are compared
with each other through means of contrasts. Those that help the unfortunate are
blessed: basil, the frankincense tree and the willow, whereas the white poplar,
which does not help the unfortunate, is cursed (Самарџија 2009: 18, 121–122,
Lovretić 1902: 195–196). This parallelism can be realized in other ways as well.
The same plant can be cursed by the devil, and blessed by the God (the rose has
thorns but it is the most beautiful flower; Софрић 1990: 190–191). Even when
there are no double structural segments, flora is polarized by the effect of words.
Depending on whether they have wronged the divine forces or helped them and
showed respect for them, plants are divided into blessed (good, pure, divine) and
cursed (evil, impure, and demonic). This configuration of vegetation (Усачёва
2010: 130–131) rests on beliefs (about the origin of the plant and the magical
power of the word), which are confirmed by etiological and Christian legends.
A special type of a contagious magic is contained in the legends, and it
emphasizes the consequences of a godly touch, which, although inadvertent, is
crucial for the species in question. The Mother of God kneads dough and washes it
from her hands. The water she uses for this (or in certain variants it is her menstrual
blood) changes the colour of bogorodičina trava (lit. Mother of God’s grass, Eng. St
John’s Wort; Софрић 1990: 13–14). The ear of wheat receives its final shape when
the Mother of God grasps it in her hand (Стојановић 1901: 136).
This change of substance can carry traces of the deepest layers of tradition.
Blood, especially, can change the colour of white flowers (e.g. rose or peony),
regardless its origin (divine, demonic or human, from a righteous person or a
sinner). When the logic of parallelism is applied to the creation of a plant, then
the focus is on the inexplicable power of creation and the body of a higher force
(cf. the creation of the first grape and the first blackberry; Карановић 2014: 36-
25
37). There is a subgroup of narratives with an etiological tendency that are based
on metamorphosis (Vasić 2008; Сиднева 2010: 122–127). These concern plants
created from the excretions and body parts of a supernatural being or from the
blood of a human sacrifice (Elijade 1991: 31-33; Vujnović 2012: 69–77).
The already created world of nature is often jeopardized through
transgressions committed by plants upon which human actions and flaws have
been projected. Sorghum persistently follows God and bores him with pleas, and
an absentminded forget-me-not forgets which name God has given it (Petković
1907: 152–153; Софрић 1990: 206–207). When they choose to grow in a
vineyard, the Lombardy poplar and the peach tree promise God not to affect the
growth of vineyard and grapes. This promise then has a crucial impact on their
fate (as well as their physical characteristics)6 (Самарџија 2009: 30). On the
other hand, the higher force returns favours received from plants and the plants’
features permanently change as a result, showing God’s, the Mother of God’s or
the saints’ gratitude or anger7.
This function of an etiological legend remains even when such an
“interpretation” is included in the more developed composition of a Christian
legend. Plants here straddle the categories of good and evil. Conflict resolution
involves various types of deceit and cunning, often ascribed to God and his
emissaries (Караџић 1988: 249–251; Пећо 1925: 381–382; Самарџија 2009:
18). The dual principle of understanding the world means that the actors are named
(God/Dabog: devil, St Sava: devil). Both ‘sides’ play a part in the creation of
plants, and their antagonism is reflected on vegetation as well (e.g. the creation of
grapes and blackberries, the status of basil and the frankincense tree, the features
of the rose; Пећо 1925: 402–403, Мијатовић–Бушетић 1925: 116; Карановић
2014: 36; Софрић 1990: 190–191; Самарџија 2009: 18). The consequences are
similar when a national saint tests his strength against an impure force, be it a
devil who steals a plant from the saint, or Sava who outsmarts the adversary.
Although the archetypal background of these conflicts is often obscure, the plot
of the story summarizes the lengthy transformation of wild herbs, bushes and
trees into grains, edible vegetables and fruits. The activities of God or a saint
and their struggles against demons are understood as milestones in the history of
civilization and the cultivation of nature for the benefit of mankind8.
It is not easy to say who the main characters of these stories are. God, the
saint, the human being, the demonic creature and nature are all subordinate to
the “interpretation” of a phenomenon, the existence of which is the best proof
6 According to the legend, the poplar promised to grow tall and slim, and the peach promised to
dry out if it started affecting the vineyard, and both have kept their promises ever since (Самарџија
2009: 30)
7 When the Mother of God ran from her pursuers with the baby Christ in her arms, she tried to
hide in the woods. Every tree became silent, only the poplar trembled, so she could not hide; then
she cursed the poplar: May you tremble forever, not from wind, nor from rain, but in fear of God
(Milićević 1984: 57).
8 For more on this, see Иванов–Топоров 1974; Levi-Strauss 1983; Meletinski 1983.
26
that the twist in the narrated chain of events is truthful (Милошевић-Ђорђевић

2000: 117–118). This complex inversion of cause and effect often takes as its
starting point the more readily apparent features of vegetation such as the height
of a tree trunk, an evergreen crown, the constant trembling of leaves, the colour
of petals, the shape of a leaf, root, tuber or fruit, the edible parts of a plant or the
process of growing from sowing till harvesting. The plant is the primary subject
of the interpretation and the object of contention for both sides involved. The plot
is shaped in the form of a humorous story with a twist, because it is the potential
victim who triumphs over the impure forces wanting to inflict harm.
This is the principle employed in stories about contests between St Sava and
the devil. The introductory scene, of their encounter, easily becomes a framework
for a humorous story about a verbal duel between interlocutors bearing different
names (a child and a traveller, a peasant and a priest, common folk and a Turk,
etc.). The attribution of names and the assignment of implied character attributes
makes it possible to broaden the composition. An unexpected agreement between
the saint and the demon can be reduced to a single episode, which can then easily
enter into a chain of episodes (Караџић 1988: 249–251, 609). The backbone of the
plot and its resolution is based on the cultivation of plants. The potential ancient
time when people made the transition from picking wild fruits to growing crops
is completely secondary: the focus of the storytelling is on the contrasted features
of the adversaries (knowledge/ignorance, wisdom/stupidity). The temporal plan
is also subordinated to the twist in the story (an event after which people began
to grow wheat, vegetables and the vine). The partnership between St Sava and
devil lasts for some time, because plants are not sown simultaneously, and it
takes three years for a planted vine to bear fruit. These stories illustrate a cross-
section of the tradition. Like a cultural hero – demiurge – trickster (Meletinski
s.a.: 191), St Sava establishes order between God and the devil, good and evil,
wild and cultivated plants. From the perspective of the group, St Sava’s mission
of enlightenment is “concretized” as knowledge and power over vegetation.
This level of “pragmatism” within etiological narratives also stems from
the ancient past, although Old and New Testament, Biblical and apocryphal
influences produced a wealth of motifs. The ancient remnants that can be found
within them also include the mythological complex and the reality of the group’s
rites and rituals. The explanations of the origin of plants that they contain (all
living beings and visible natural phenomena) give a special dimension to fantasy
and the realia of everyday life. In fact, in proving the truthfulness of a story,
fantasy becomes neutralized. “The essence of a phenomenon is equated with its
origin, the knowledge of its origin is the key for its use, and knowledge of the past
is equated with wisdom” (Meletinski s.a.: 175).
III The magical powers of plants
Another type of legend related to features of plants is characterized by a
weakened etiological component. How certain plants acquired their characteristics
27
remains something that cannot be known. However, the resulting loss of narrative
energy is compensated for by a hint of future events or a relationship with other
genres (from demonological legend to the interpretation of toponyms and
anecdotes).
Variations in this type of legend most often include finding treasure with
laserwort and plants with similar features. Discovering somebody else’s hideout
(Karanović: 1989: 73–78, 151–152) is an important segment of numerous variants
about searching for and finding gold, but the special power of a plant such as
laserwort implies the power to open every lock. As it is believed that such secret
vaults exist, so it is believed that they can be unlocked with the help of plants. In
addition to acquiring material wealth, some plants can also improve one’s life in
other ways. They can be applied during prenuptial initiation, they are important
for the performance of love magic, and they can secure fertility or protect from
demons, the evil eye or illnesses.
The marvellous powers of some plants also belong to a mythical complex,
where they are subordinated to the tasks and capabilities of the selected characters.
Gilgamesh finds a plant of immortality, a “never-grow-old”, at the bottom of the
sea, but he himself does not become immortal because a serpent steals it from him
(Koterel 1998: 44). Such plants are identified by their effect. In ancient Greece, for
example, they could guarantee victory, heal all wounds and bring the dead back
to life (Срејовић–Цермановић 1979: 93, 96). Even if they are described, their
name is mostly omitted from the account. For example, Hermes gives Odysseus
an (unnamed) herb with a small black root and white flower (description), so that
the king of Ithaca can protect himself from Circe who uses herbs to transform
humans into animals (effect) (Срејовић–Цермановић 1979: 208).
In addition to laserwort, the “key” to open every lock can be the seed or
flower of a fern, or a certain type of clover picked only at a certain time (at night,
usually on the eve of St John the Baptist’s Day). This plant is difficult to describe
because no one, in fact, has ever really seen it. Nonetheless, such an absence of
witnesses paradoxically coincides with the usual way a legend is proven true. In
order to find the magical herb, a certain set of conditions must be fulfilled, one
of which is to fence in a tortoise’s nest. The female tortoise then brings some
laserwort or another plant with similar properties, in order to free her offspring. It
is most commonly a tortoise that finds the laserwort, although the hedgehog and
some birds also know how to find it (Чајкановић 1985: 325; Гура 2005: 292).
The alternatives to laserwort are also natural rarities. Still, in contrast to the two-
leaf or five-leaf clover, the shape, colour, size, flower, smell and all other physical
qualities are absorbed by the name of the marvellous species or by a description
of its distinctive features (Чајкановић 1985: 324–325; 1985а: 102–116). The
naming of other “ordinary” and “extraordinary” plants is based on simple folk
etymology (valerian or belladonna for example; Колосова 2009: 10–12, 39).
The name “demonstrates” the features of the plant (Цветковић 1899: 122–123;
28
Lovretić 1902: 117, 118) and people believe in them, maybe exactly because it is
equally difficult to prove or disprove them.
The impossibility of accurately describing the plant, along with its special
status, opens the narrative structure for some future event. Various conditions
need to be met if the precious plant is to be reached and the goal attained. The
outcome of such instances always implies a change in the (social) status of the
individual (e.g. increased material wealth, marriage or changed reputation),
which additionally deform the fantasy, which is thus subordinated to real life
circumstances.
The group takes a particular position in relation to beliefs and etiological
legends about the origin and features of plants. There is a marked kind of
coming to terms with the structure of nature, although these stories about
supernatural plants also reveal a human longing for a change in destiny. The
ambivalent relationship between people and plants has progressed in several
different directions throughout the history of civilization. The plant world has
offered shelter yet presented danger; however, people have mastered the use and
cultivation of numerous species, providing food and protection for their family
and property. Roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits have been used to make
medicine and poisons alike. The life cycle of a plant – its birth, blossoming,
ripening, death and resurrection – corresponds with the human life journey
and human representations of the divine structure of the visible world and its
unfathomable forces. Perhaps this is precisely why the opulent and varied shapes,
colours and smells of vegetation have been so intensively stylized in the oral
tradition.
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*
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33
34
ХРИСТИАНСКАЯ СИМВОЛИКА БАЗИЛИКА В СВЕТЕ ТЕОРИИ
УДК: 392.1:635.71(497.17)
27-558.3+27-565.35:635.71

Институт славяноведения
Университет им. Адама Мицкевича
Познань, Польша
rekasus79@gmail.com
ХРИСТИАНСКАЯ СИМВОЛИКА БАЗИЛИКА В СВЕТЕ

ТЕОРИИ КУЛЬТУРНОЙ ПАМЯТИ РЕЛИГИОЗНЫХ
ГРУПП*
Предметом настоящей работы является базилик (Ocimum basilicum), его
утилитарные функции в комеморативных церемониях, которым участник (не
исследователь) придает название «христианские», т. е. в ритуальных действиях,
трактуемых как повторная инсценировка событий из прошлого, из конкретного
священного сюжета, основанного на библейском и литургийном повествовании, и
комеморируемого в форме культа, как в календарном, так и в жизненном цикле
индивида. Базилик используется в праздновании рождения (вторичные источники,
сербские) и обрядово-бытового/ритуального/общепринятого комплекса Водиц
(вторичные и первичные источники, т. е. результаты полевых исследований,
территория сегодняшней Республики Македония) проанализированы, применяя
теорию коллективной памяти религиозных групп Мориса Хальбвакса и на ее
основах построенную теорию комемморативной церемонии Пола Коннертона.
Именно такой взгляд на «святое растение сербского народа» делает возможным
достижение цели: декодирование христианских – темпорально и утилитарно
понимаемых – символических содержаний базилика, значит, тех свойств растения
«сопровождаемого серба во всех важных жизненных событиях», которые
преодолевают разрыв между непонятным языком догматики и перцепцией субъекта
обряда, т. е. участника празднования; который обуславливает непрерывность и
форму празднования и для которого ритуальные действия являются коммеморацией
данного периода или событий из жизни Христа.
Kлючевые слова: базилик, обряд, рождение, Водицы, Богоявление, крещение, кум,
святой Иоанн Креститель, коммеморативная церемония
*
Работа настала в рамках: 1. проекта Водицы. Фольклористская студия коммеморативной
церемонии, который финансирует ректор Университета им. Адама Мицкевича в Познане
и декан факультета польской и классической филологии; 2. выработки элабората для
эвалюации проекта Водицы в деревне Битуше, которым руководит проф. др Эли Луческа,
Институт старославянской культуры, Прилеп. Проект финансирован благодаря Однолетней
договоренности об участии в финансировании проектов национального интереса в области
культуры для музейной деятельности Министерства культуры Республики Македония, № 28-
5535/1. Автор настоящего текста является уполномоченным лицом для выработки элабората;
3. исследовательского проекта, которым руководит др Каролина Бьеленин Ленчовска,
Македонское Порече 80 лет после исследования Йозефа Обрембского. Антропологическая
студия континуитета и перемены, который финансирует Народный центр науки, Польша
№ гранта 2011/01/D/HS3/03583, внутренний № GR 4019.
35
„Res autem tot possunt habere significationes, quot habent proprietates“ (Auctor
incertus; Kobielus 2006: 9).
„Сем ако у томе није бит босиока, себе сакрити, затајити у срцу властите
тајне, што се протеже од памтивека, пустити друге да се размећу бојама,
латицама и омамљујућим мирисима и кад све то прође и свене, раскруни се
и развеје, као на ветру прах, остати мирисан и лак“ (Бодирогић 2012: 10).
Учитывая богатую фольклористическую и этнологическую литературу,

основанную на терминах христианский (чаще всего как противоположность
языческому) и базилик (Ocimum basilicum, святое растение сербского народа
(Софрић 1990 [1912]: 33), который базилик «игра изванредно важну улогу у
магији, религији и култу, у медицини, у поезији српског народа» (Чајкановић
1994: 36), оправдано поднимается вопрос о необходимости их пересмотра.
Обоснованным его делает попытка изучить их способом, отличающимся
от преобладающего в литературе. Речь идет о методологическом подходе,
построенном на основах семиотического анализа обряда Никиты Ильича
Толстого (1990) и теории коллективной памяти религиозных групп Мориса
Хальбвакса (Maurice Halbwachs 1992 [1939]). В процессе постройки способа
исследования решающую роль сыграла также теория коммеморативной
церемонии (commemorative ceremony) Пола Коннертона (Paul Connerton
1989)1. Благодаря этому возможно преодоление разрыва между
теологической наррацией, которой присущ непонятный язык догматики и
фольклористического/этнологического «рассказа», включающий ритуалы
(составную часть празднования ) в термин языческий, называя участника
обряда представителем народного христианства, народной религии и т. п.
Для применения данного методологического подхода значимым доводом
является возможность одновременного использования источников,
являющихся частью разных семантических систем и территориальной
принадлежности. Расчленение всегда упорядочивает: основной сюжет
(подлинность которого представители данной религиозной системы не
ставят под вопрос, хотя он не должен обязательно быть исторически
подтвержденным) и его повторная инсценировка (определенные ритуалы/
обрядово-обычные комплексы и т. д.).
Пользуясь терминологией, присущей мемориальному дискурсу,
предмет исследования определяется как ритуальные повторные
инсценировки (rituals of re-enactment; с помощью слова и/или жеста)
событий из прошлого, из христианской священной истории. В
исследовательском фокусе находится феномен ритуального воссоздания
прошлого, с помощью повтора слов и/или действий; воссоздание тогдашней
временной обстановки. Речь идет о действии «which explicitly re-enact other
1 Данный методологический подход описан в работах: Ренкас 2013а, Ренкас 2013б, Rękas
неопубл. а, Rękas неопубл. б.
36
actions that are represented as prototypical» (Connerton 1989: 70). Анализ

включает следующие источники: 1. обрядово-бытовой комплекс рождения
(жизненный цикл индивида, вторичные источники, сербские, обработанные
мною раньше в монографии: Rękas 2010, 2012); 2. обрядово-бытовой/
ритуальный комплекс Водицы (календарный цикл, вторичные и первичные
источники, т. е. результаты полевых исследований 2010–2014, территория
сегодняшней Pеспублики Македония). Исследовательская точка зрения
определяется на уровне субъекта обряда, что значит, что в центре внимания
находится участник праздника, т. е. тот, кто обуславливает преемственность
и форму празднования, и для которого ритуальные действия, в соответствии
с постулатами теории коллективной памяти религиозных групп, являются
коммеморацией периодов или событий из жизни Христа:
Let us shift attention away from origins or the profound meaning of myths.
Instead of looking beyond these traditions to general events-the migrations
and fusions of peoples, of which they are perhaps the echo-let us consider
them as they appear in the eyes of the believers. All of them offer us a
depiction of the life, activities, and figure of divine or sacred entities.
Whether in terms of human, animal, or other traits, in every case the
imagination lends them a sensible form of existence. These entities exist in
or have appeared at certain places, at certain eras. They were manifested on
earth. [...] If we survey the different components of the Christian cult, we
realize that each one of them is essentially the commemoration of a period
or an event of the life of Christ (Halbawchs 1992: 87−88).
Формирование традиции, на которой основывается символическое

значение составных элементов природы, включая растения (дерево,
цветок, плод, их запах, цвет и другие реальные и метафорические
элементы), а которой часто придается название христианской, связано
с периодом за долго до рождения Христа/кодификации христианства.
Она основана с одной стороны на не-/пред-христианской мифологии, с
другой стороны – на библейском старозаветном повествовании. Из них она
черпала символические ценности, основывающиеся в случае растений на
утилитарной, физической и духовной (направленной на человека) цели их
существования (ср. Kobielus 2006: 9–17). Таким способом христианство: 1.
переняло понимание растения как необходимого элемента человеческого
и животного питания, т. е. переняло общественное, экономическое и
символическое значение; 2. начало придавать растениям религиозные
функции, употребляя их в ходе совершения культа/обрядовой практики.
Скрещение символических значений растений возникало как из
наслоения иудаизма, христианства и наследия языческой антики, так и
из соседства народов разных культур и верований. Поэтому очень важно
как можно более точно определить понятия, связанные с конкретной
религиозной системой (в случае данной работы христианства) – вводные
37
предпосылки всегда являются решающими для формы проведенных

реконструкций и полученных выводов. Христианство и христианский
рассматриваются темпорально и нарративно. Учредительные действия
(независимо от того, подтверждены ли они исторически, или являются
только продуктом человеческой имагинации), нарративно сформированные
в библейской и литургической традиции, находят отражение (ритуальное,
театральное и/или перформативное) в обрядово-бытовых комплексах
праздников. Христианский temporum в настоящей работе не трактуется как
мифическое время. Иными словами, события, входящие в состав священной
истории о воплощении, смерти и воскресении Христа – для нижеследующего
анализа – являются не событиями, происшедшими in illo tempore, а частью
исторического повествования, проникающего в мельчайшие частицы веры
(Connerton 1989: 46). Иначе говоря, вся христианская доктрина основывается
на истории (a story) и почти срастается с этой историей (conflated, Halbawchs
1992: 88), в то время как христианская память проявляется прежде всего в
поминовении Христа в течение литургического года и дневной, недельной,
месячной и годовой цикличности (Goff 2007: 125).
Christianity stands or falls with the tie that binds it to its unique historical
origin. It originates at a definite historical moment and at all subsequent
points in its history it explicitly and elaborately refers back to that moment.
Christianity begins with a single sequence of events in history (Connerton
1989: 46).
Я хочу подчеркнуть, что имею в виду не настоящие события,

вошедшие в церковную традицию благодаря записям во время наблюдения.
Память, которая действует реконструкционно, не хранит в себе моменты
прошлого как таковых.
Kršćanska topografija je čista fikcija. Sveta mjesta ne komemoriraju
utvrđene činjenice već vjerske ideje, koje u njima naknadno puštaju
korijen [...]. Autentično kolektivno pamćenje sljedbeničke zajednice, danas
bismo rekli Isusovog pokreta [...], koje kao comunaute affective počiva na
živom općenju, svelo se u tipičnoj selektivnosti afektivne pogođenosti na
logije, parabole, izreke i poučke majstora. Biografijska elaboracija slike
sjećanja započinјe tek kasnije, nakon što izblijedi apokaliptičko očekivanje
skorašnjeg događaja. U njoj je bitno da se prisjećane logije usukaju u
biografske epizode i da im se da mjesto u vremenu i prostoru. Ne postoje
mjesta na kojima se sjećanje održalo samo od sebe, tako su ga oko 100
godina n.e. poznavaoci galilejske geografije povezali s mjestima [...].
Ovdje uopće ne postoje autentična sjećanja (Assmann 2005: 47–48).
В случае источника анализа речь идет о крещении Иисуса,

которое интерпретируется: 1. нарративно, т. е. как линейное «событие»,
восстановленное на основе библейской и литургийной наррации; 2.
38
каузативно, т. е. как влияние последствий крещения Иисуса на обрядово-

бытовые комплексы, в которых вышеупомянутое линейное событие
повторяется. С одной стороны, мы можем следить за ходом ритуальных
действий, представляющих собой повтор действий Иоанна Крестителя.
Это происходит: 1. раз в году (календарный цикл) во время празднования
«Праздника света» (Evdokimov 1986: 355), Богоявления2; 2. раз в человеческой
жизни, как составная часть обрядово-бытового комплекса рождения
(крещение; жизненный цикл индивида); 3. каждый раз во время освящения
воды священным лицом. Приведенная последовательность представляет
собой одновременно причинную цепочку. Основополагающая наррация,
в которой Иоанн крестит Христа, ведет к тому, что крещение становится
долгом, условием для вхождения в Царство Божие и одновременно придает
воде очищающие от нечистот свойства. Я не утверждаю, что вода не обладала
данными качествами до библейского санкционирования священной истории,
что эта священная история ввела их в христианский опус, что она дала им
легитимность появляться под прилагательным «христианский». Однако,
рядом с повествованием можно наблюдать обрядово-бытовой комплекс
рождения и Водиц как последствие линейной истории, особенно если мы
учитываем употребление предметного кода ритуала, в котором главную
роль играет вода, а также базилик.
Специфичность источников в результате характеризуется
исследовательской дихотомией: действие и его вербализация versus
вербализация и сопровождающее ее действие. Анализ этой дихотомии
может показать путь от ритуального действия, через его вербализацию
до эмансипации слова от ритуальной практики, которая его породила (ср.
Карановић 2010: 196-207; Perić-Polonijo 1996). Аналогично можно показать,
что нет связи verbuma с ритуальным действием и перехода устного ритуала
из другого обрядового комплекса. Такого рода исследования, подчиненные
темпоральной ориентировке и хронологической направленности,
подразумевают совместное представление вербального и акционального
кода, зависящего от общего элемента каждого обрядово-бытового комплекса
праздника, т. е. человека/участника, обуславливающего существование и
2 Церковь учредила Богоявление в память крещения Христа в реке Иордан, описываемого

тремя евангелистами (Мт 3, 13−7, Мр 1, 9−11, Лл 3, 21−22). Праздник, воспринимаемый
как блеск, появление (Bielawski 2005: 61), названием обязан тому, что во время крещения
Христа явилась Пресвятая Троица (Мирковић 1961: 105). Крещением Христос объявляет
тайну Святой Троицы и показывает, что в царство божие не может войти никто, кто не
крещен (Charkiewicz 2004: 35; Rękas 2013a: 142). Понимая библейскую и литургическую
историю как текст источника (линейно представленного) и читая повествование о событии
исключительно в категориях фабулы, в нем можно выделить два главных героя: Иисуса и
Иоанна Крестителя. Но, если мы пустим в ход механизм обряда перехода Арнольда ван
Генепа (Arnold van Gennep, 2006), субъектом обряда можно будет назвать только Крестителя
– его «переход» подразумевает изменение статуса всего человечества. Иисус – богочеловек
– не нуждался в крещении; он крестился, чтобы дать свету возможность спасения. Крестя
Иисуса, Иоанн de facto крестит все человеческое сообщество, включая себя.
39
форму других кодов ритуала (в том числе предметного), определенных как

медиумы коллективной памяти. Одним из этих медиумов является базилик
и его темпорально обусловленное символическое содержание. Стержнем
дальнейшего анализа является присутствие базилика в ритуальных
действиях, трактуемых как повторная инсценировка, и в ритуальных
действиях, в кодах которых заметно последствие учредительных событий,
согласно словам Мориса Хальбвакса:
Тhe liturgical year is the commemoration of all those who contributed to
founding, spreading, or illustrating Christian doctrine. [...] Тhe whole of
Christian doctrine is based on a story and is almost conflated with that
story. If the ancient pagans could not be saved, this is because the events of
Christian history had not yet taken place; in contrast to the Jews, the pagans
could not know the prophecies that announced the events before they had
taken place. The Jews foresaw the coming of the Messiah; the disciples
of Jesus were the witnesses of his life, his death, and his resurrection; all
Christian generations which have succeeded each other since are familiar
with the tradition of these events. Thus the entire substance of Christianity,
since Christ has not reappeared on earth, consists in the remembrance of his
life and teachings (Halbawchs 1992: 88).
Крещение Иисуса является основополагающим действием

(источником, священной историей для христиан), которое, повторяемое в
течение литургического года, сильно влияет на форму празднования - как
принятия нового члена сообщества в церковные и общественные структуры,
так и Богоявления (Водиц). В обоих обрядово-бытовых комплексах
присутствует повторное выполнение действий Иоанна Крестителя, что
показывают следующие схемы3:
3 Способ, которым «развивается» память в обрядово-,бытовых комплексах рождения

и Водиц, отражает обрядовая схема, на которую я сначала применила сюжетную схему
Алгирдаса Юлиена Грема (Algirdas Julien Greimas; онованную на сюжетных схемах
Владимира Проппа). Гремовой схемой я охватила учредительные события, в то время как
схемой ритуала я охватила формы их поминовения, т. е. празднование. Точное объяснение
процесса построения схем находится в работе: Ренкас 2013б.
40
41
Для форм празднования решающими являются следующие

факты: крещение Иисуса происходит в воде и Иисуса крестит человек.
С этой точки во временной линии христианства вода в официальной
христианской символике становится материей, очищающей от физической
и трансцендентальной нечистоты, в то время как человек может (законно)
ею пользоваться в этих целях:
Да се освети вода ова силом, и дејством, и силаском Светога Духа
[...]. Да јој се пошаље благодат искупљења, благослов Јордана [...].
Да буде вода ова на одгнање сваког напада видљивих и невидљивих
непријатеља (Требник 16, Чин свете тајне крштења).
Да ова вода буде на исцељење душа и тела, и на прогнање сваке

противничке силе (Требник 248, Чин малог освећења воде).
Ево вам дадох власт над духовима нечистим, да их изгоните, и да

исцељујете сваку болест и сваку слабост (Требник 241, Чин малог
освећења воде).
Освящение воды, имеющее в христианском temporum свое начало в
крещении Христа, в сербской церковной традиции подразумевает также
употребление базилика. Он присутствует во время освящения, кропления
людей, имения и др., а также крещения. Акт малого освящения начинается
объяснением: «Свештеник, у епитрахиљу и фелону, стаје пред сто на коме је
суд са водом, свећа и босиљак, ставља крст, кади унакрст...» (Требник 233).
Этим же базиликом он кропит.
Христе, који си водом напунио извор исцељења, данас у свечестом
храму Дјеве, кропљењем твога благослова прогони болести болних,
Лекару душа и тела наших (Требник 236).
Приклони ухо твоје, и услиши нас, Господе, који си благоволео да се

крстиш у Јордану и да осветиш воде [...]; и удостој нас да се пијењем и
кропљењем воде ове испуњимо твога освећења, и да нам буде, Господе,
на здравље душе и тела. [...] Онда, узевши часни Крст, благосиља воду
трипут, крстообразно. [...] Онда свештеник целива часни Крст, као и
сви присутни, и кропи све светом водом, па олтар и сву цркву (а у
дому сва одељења) (Требник 240).
Сильная, церковно-правовая (в рамках христианства) связь

базилика с актом освящения воды имеет ритуальный отпечаток в обрядах,
происходящих в первые сорок дней с момента рождения, связанных с
новорожденным и роженицей. „И породиља и дете постају чисти купањем,
молитвљењем, крштењем и ношењем детета у цркву о четрдесетници”
(Ђорђевић 2002: 107) и в каждом из приведенных действий мы замечаем
присутствие базилика (см. нпр. Босић 1997: 237; Босић 1994: 8; Грбић 1909:
108; Марјановић 1997: 185; Милојевић-Радовић 1958: 245; Петровић 1948:
42
259; Петровић 2000: 66–68). От «молитвения» (обряд первого дня), через

знамение (обряд восьмого дня) до уцерковления (обряд сорокового дня,
связанный с извлечением большой молитвы) и крещения – присутствие
базилика сопровождает ритуальных субъектов и объединяет ритуальные
действия. Вопреки церковным правилам (ср. Милаш 1895, 1896; Требник)
в описаниях обычаев встречается соединение обрядов первого и восьмого
дня, что все-таки не влияет негативно на обрядовое употребление базилика.
Много је обичније да чим се дете роди, неко иде свештенику да од
њега донесе молитву или знамење, зламење, водицу како се све
у народу назива. То је вода коју свештеник освети и благослови,
очитавши над њом прописану молитву. Суд са молитвом редовно
се затвара босиљком. Кад се молитва донесе кући, најпре се њоме
породиља трипут запоји. Затим бабица њоме најпре попрска дете,
па породиљу. [...]. Негде поред воде коју освеђује свештеник и сам
свештеник долази да и у породиљиној кући освети воду. [...] Ову воду
сипају у какву боцу, запуше је босиљком и метну поред породиље
да се њоме свако јутро помало попрска и од ње мало пије (Ђорђевић
2002: 109).
Обично се знамење врши у кући у присуству детета и пре осам дана, у

ма који дан до осмог дана, већином после молитава жени породиљи у
први дан када роди дете. Обичај читати ову молитву иза молитава
жени породиљи у први дан после рођења детета, пошто донесу
воду у кућу свештеникову, сматра се као одступање од правила
(Мирковић 1983: 31).
Ове се молитве код нас обично очитају, над водом, коју домаћин или
ма који из куће, одмах по порођају донесе свештенику, обично у
стаклу или новој тикви са струком босиљка. Ова се вода чува, те се
за 40 дана њоме молитви вода у којој се купају и мати и дете. Народ
ову освећену воду зове молитва и знамење (Миловановић 1888: 20).
В вышеприведенных примерах видно присутствие базилика в

акциональном коде обрядово-бытового комплекса рождения с точки
зрения употребления воды. Вода становится частью предметного кода,
обуславливающего присутствие базилика в акциональном. В них базилик
не появляется один; его самостоятельность обрядово ограничена до
содействия с водой4. Следы этой христианской законности, зависимости
базилика от воды, замечаются также во время первого стрижения, когда кум
4 Ср.: «Базилик запахом символически связывает земное и небесное, а так как в ритуальных
поступках чаще всего смачивается водой, также подземное. Таким способом он осуществляет ось,
подобную той, которую создает дым в очаге или зажженный фимиам» (Раденковић 1996: 214).
43
кладет прядь волос новорожденного в воск, а потом вместе с базиликом - в

шапку, упоминая при этом Иоанна Крестителя (Грбић 1909: 137–138).
Так трактуемая христианская утилитарная функция базилика в
религиозных актах действует также в тех ритуальных мероприятиях,
которые якобы противоречат церковным правилам.
Још има људи који кажу да нису крштени у цркви [...]. Чак и у периоду
кад су почели децу да носе у цркву, ношена су само мушка, а не и
женска деца. Како сиромашни људи нису могли да праве гозбу и
дарују кума, они позову неку рођаку или комшику, да она дете држи у
цркви уместо кума или да га код куће крсти иза врата. Таквих крштења
се више нико не сећа, али из причања су отприлике изгледала овако:
мајка или баба држи дете иза врата, неки укућанин поред њих држи
у једној руци свећу, а у другој чашу вина, док неко из куће, родбине
или комшилука (обично је била девојka или старија жена – баба) дете
најпре „застриже“ на четири места у крст, босиљком га поруси по
глави (босиљком умоченим у воду прска га по глави), а затим му водом
накваси леђа (Крстић 1995: 109).
Ключевой является активная практическая роль базилика в создании
новой действительности. Он двигатель; не символизирует, а делает.
Независимо от того, идет ли речь об освящении воды для нового члена
сообщества (1, 8, 40 дней, в ходе крещения) или о богоявленском великом
освящении (смотри: Требник 418–425, Акт великого водоосвящения
в Богоявление [Чин великог водоосвећења на Богојављење]), базилик
в акциональном коде сначала5 появляется в центре акта освящения,
проводимого священным лицом. Таким способом для верующих он
получает христианскую оправданность дальнейшего употребления. Иоанна
Крестителя в повторяемой истории (как представлено в схемах) заменяет
кум, приносящий освященную воду, и он с помощью базилика кропит
ею и благословляет жильцов своего «креста», села, города и т.д., каждого
человека отдельно, их дома, хлева, нивы и пр.
Хотя обрядово-бытовые комплексы Водиц на территории сегодняшней
Республики Македония отличаются между собой6, то крест, вода и базилик
составляют часть предметного кода, упорядочивающего каждый праздник
Богоявления, независимо от места празднования (в рамках исследуемого
5 Условно говоря, потому что, как показано в работе: Рекас 2013а, для обрядово-обычного
комплекса праздника Богоявления невозможно, в темпоральном ключе, определить начало
и конец (конечно, если учитывается неотделимость зарисовки и анализа временно-
пространственных границ «церковного» и «народного» этнографического описания).
6 Этнографические описания Водиц многочисленны. В целях данной работы приводим
несколько, смотри напр. Аврамоски 1993; Атанасовска, Боцев 1992; Величковска 2008;
Домазетовски 1975; Китевски 1993; Миланов 2006: 113–121; Паликрушева 1975; Петров
1969; Петровски 1975; Поповски 1975; Ристески 1985: 1–58; Ристески 1990; Ристовски 1970;
Тановић 1927: 24–27; Трајкоски 1975; Целакоски 1992; Целакоски 1984: 93–134; Цветковски
1987.
44
пространства). Пока базилик привязан к кресту (с момента освящения воды

до принятия кумовства), он служит материальной защитой, чтобы люди
не вступали в непосредственный контакт с трансцендентальным (защита
креста) и чтобы с помощью него благодать трансцендентального перенеслась
на них (кропление). Он находится между человеческим и потусторонним;
является центральной частью предметного кода, делающего возможным
контакт двух действительностей и создание новой. Его христианскую
обоснованность можно связать со страхом Иоанна Крестителя дотронуться
до Христа и крестить его. Иисус, приходя на Иордан, завершает фазу
исключения Иоанна Крестителя, который посредством диалога с Христом и
физической близости с ним начинает вступать в непосредственный контакт
со sacrum (уп. Рекас 2013а, 2013б).
Големиот Дожд доаѓа во јорданските води, сакајќи да се крсти по
тело. [...] Како ќе Те крстам Тебе [...]? Како ќе ја положам мојата
рака на главата од која трепери вселената (Богослужби 2008: 893,
5 јануари, утрена, глас 1).
Зошто ми заповедаш да извршам нешто кое ги надминува моите

сили? [...] Блокиран сум од секаде, и не знам кај да побегнам
(Богослужби 2008: 976, 7 јануари, вечерна, стихитри на Јован Претеча,
глас 1).
[...] на Крстителот, кој трепереше, му вика: Подај ја твојата рака, и

допри се до Мојата глава, и стравот отстрани го (Богослужби 2008:
895, 5 јануари, утрена, песна 5).
В Ехловце7, после принятия кумовства, когда базилик отделяется

от креста, крест не берут в руки, а кладут на тряпку/полотенце и так
хранят до следующего праздника Богоявления и соединения с базиликом
(MVI_0012). Страх Иоанна дотронуться до sacrum христианство снимает,
ставя между человеком и божественным ликом растение, защищающее от
непосредственного контакта с потусторонним. В повторных инсценировках
учредительных действий базилик приобретает роль посредника. Любинко
Раденкович подчеркивает, что его медиальная роль проявляется «в
апокрифном этиологическом предании о чудесном зачатии матери Иисуса,
Марии. По совету дьявола Бог переночевал с этим растением, а затем дал
его Марии, и она сразу стала от него беременной» (1996: 214–215). Согласно
христианской догматике, без согласия Иоанна не может совершиться
крещение, также как раньше (в основном повествовании), без fiat Матери
Божьей не пришло бы к зачатию и рождению Сына Божьего. То, что в
священной истории возможно без посредника, в земной требует употребление
7 Материалы полевых исследований, 17–21.01.2014, Кичево−Ехлоец.

45
медиатора – в данном случае базилика, находящегося всегда «между», для

него лиминальная фаза никогда не кончается. Его христианское обрядовое
содержание сведено к rite de marge – опасный, но и плодотворный. Он
становится также медиумом памяти, хотя его в источнике (библейском или
литургическом) нет. Он соединяет учредительную наррацию с повторяемым
рассказом и является ее двигателем в рассмотренных источниках.
Защитные функции базилика, т.е. тот факт, что он действует как
мощный апотропеон, подчеркивают многие исследователи (приведу только
несколько: Бандић 2004: 57–59; Карановић 2010: 170, 248–249; Софрић
1990: 29–45; СМР: 41–42; Чајкановић 1994: 36–43). Бутылка с молитвой,
запечатанная базиликом, находится всегда рядом с новорожденным, если
его носят напр. на ниву (Петровић 2000 V: 68). В третий вечер во время
встреч с суженицами «под детињу главу стављао босиљак» (Зечевић
1981: 77–78). Мельчайшую частицу базилика после развязывания креста
разделяют между жильцами и хранят в течение целого года (с освященной
водой или без нее, потому что тут уже теряется обязательность совместного
употребления). Ей придается защитная и воспроизводительная роль, что
подтверждается также исследованиями базилика, не связывающими его с
христианством, как темпорально обусловленной религиозной системой.
С христианством, санкционирующим его употребление через Иоанна
Крестителя и акт освящения воды.
В деревне Битуше, после полуночи в Васильев вечер, после того как
принесут воду из источника, женщины месят богоявленские хлебы и поют:
Добре ми дојде свети Јоване.
Добре те најдов, еј нови куме.
Не уплаши се, ток зарадви се.
Сам свети Јован заире носем.
Заире носем бела пченица.
Бела пченица, ведро ракија.
Ведро ракија, две ведра вино.
Две ведра вино, крава јалова.
(MVI_2667)
Если вспомнить вышеупомянутый литургический диалог между
Иисусом и Иоанном, становится «осязаемым» повторение первоисточника, т.
е. разговора с литургическими текстами8. В данном случае с Иоанном/Богом
с помощью обрядовой песни разговаривает не кум, а женщины из его семьи
(которые в обрядовых схемах находятся на одном и том же семантическом
уровне). Некрещеная вода представляет собой воспроизведение воды, в
которой Иоанн крестил людей, прежде чем на Иордане появился Христос.
Он крестил водой, еще не обладавшей целительскими свойствами, но
имевшей способность активной подготовки к приходу Господа. Источник
8 Подробное описание смотри в: Ренкас 2013б.
46
очищения и новой жизни (вода), связанный с символическим эквивалентом

нарастающего теста (хлеба) противоречит словам:
Спасителов Претечо, цвету од неплодна (мајка) (Богослужби 2008:
976, 7 јануари, вечерна).
Денес се весели порано неплодната и бездетна Црква Христова,

зашто преку вода и Хух ù се родија синови” (Богослужби 2008: 982,
Утрена, другиот канон, песна 3).
Како духовна зора, сечесен Јоване, роден од неплодна (жена)

(Богослужби 2008: 994, Утрена, друг канон).
Како ангел излезе од неплодна утроба, Крстителу (Богослужби 2008:

999, Утрена, глас 6).
Принося воду и меся тесто, женщины ведут диалог с Иоанном

Крестителем (рожденным от бесплодной пожилой матери). Их слова
объясняют аналогию совершаемых действий: чтобы их мог услышать тот,
кто слушает (святой/Бог), чтобы он мог понять, открыть скрытое в них
намерении. Риторика повтора особенностей феномена рождения Иоанна
Крестителя отличается крепкой связью с женственностью – плодородием,
получающим в мужском тексте эсхатологические масштабы. Таким
способом плодотворная функция базилика, рядом с защитной, получает и
христианскую обоснованность.
Сретен Петрович, рассматривая экстрасенситивные и магические
свойства змеи, приводит следующее описание магических действий:
Од посебног магијског значаја је она змија која се убије између
Панађурâ, 28. августа и 21. септембра. У том времену змија је
„најљућа“. [...] Када се таквој змији одсече глава и затим осуши, па
се у пролеће кроз отвор костура змијске главе посеје босиљак, у том
случају, пошто изникне босиљак, он омогућава свакој особи да по
жељи у току ноћи разговара са духовима умрлих предака. Потребно
је само да се овај нарочити босиљак пре спавања стави испод јастука
и помисли на особу са којом човек жели у сну да говори (Петровић
2000: 71).
Это приводит к выводу, что базилик, благодаря ритуальному

употреблению с частями тела хтонического животного, получает также
хтонические признаки и может употребляться в действиях, эффекты которых
не являются результатом действия причинно-следственной связи. Базилик,
следственно, является растением, легко принимавшим свойства того элемента
действительности (предмета, животного), с которым он вступает в контакт.
Он является подходящим для межпространства: он является границей, в
47
которой без столкновений встречаются два измерения и коммуникацию

которых он делает возможной. Христианство, которое в истории о
сотворении мира хронологически устанавливает растения раньше солнца и
неба, в то время как их запах переносится с уровня чувственного на уровень
умственного (Kobielus 2006: 240–242), употребляло базилик как обрядовый
реквизит, соединяя его с водой. Оно определило его как утилитарный
предмет, посредничающий между людским и трансцендентальным. Оно
ввело его в церковную традицию и «дало оправдание» его употреблению в
качестве защитного и плодотворящего элемента.
Осуществляя свою роль «превосходно через признак запаха»
(Раденковић 1996: 214) basilicum christianum, также как и в устных
балладах, находится «на меже». Ритуальный реквизит межпространства
и межвремен устанавливает связь между человеком, богом/святым и
предками. Обрученная Лазо Радановича (Караџић II бр. 7), одаряя свадебных
гостей базиликом «до краја обавља обавезне ритуале везивања за нови
дом» (Карановић 2010: 170), делая возможным свое «вступление» в новую
семью, вопреки тому, что ее свадебный обряд никогда не закончится. Запах
этих христианских цветов, без которых «не мож да живиш ни да умреш, ни
ништа» (Раденковић 1996: 214) это odor, делающий возможным ощущение
присутствия физически невидимого лица. Запах базилика в христианской
религиозной практике является «запахом познания» (2 Кор 2,14).
БИБЛИОГРАФИЯ
Аврамоски 1993: P. Аврамоски, Водичарските обичаји во село Ташмаруништа –

Струшко, Македонски фолклор, XXVI/51: 71–75.
Атанасовска, Боцев 1992: Ф. Атанасовска, В. Боцев, Некои магиски елементи во
изведувањето на обичајот Водици во селото Битуше, Етнолог. Списание на
Здружението на етнолозите на Македонија, 1/1: 98–107.
Богослижби: Избор на месечни и празнични богослужби. Прв том (септември –
јануари). Превод и препев протојереј ставрофор Јован Таковски. Битола:
Преспанко-пелагонијска епархија, 2008.
Бодирогић 2012: М. Бодирогић, О биљкама, животињама и пределима. Српска
митологија, Нови Сад: Орфелин.
Босић 1997: М. Босић, Магија у обичајима животног циклуса Срба у Војводини,
Рад Музеја Војводине, 39: 229–246.
Величковска 2008: P. Величковска, Водичарски обреди и водичарско певање у
Македонији, In: Дани Владе С. Милошевића, Бања Лука: 229–240.
Грбић 1909: С.М. Грбић, Српски народни обичаји из Среза Бољевачког, СЕЗ, XIV,
Друго одељење, Живот и обичаји народни, 8, Београд.
Домазетовски 1975: П. Домазетовски, Водичарските обичаи и песни во Дримкол
(Струшко), Македонски фолклор, VIII/15–16: 253–261.
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48
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Перевод: Соња Манојловић

Коррекция: Ирина Ермашова
51
52
MOTIVE OF DIFFICULT TASKS AND THE PLANT CODE
UDC: 821.163.09:398
821.163.41.09:398
Sonja D. Petrović
University of Belgrade
sonja.petrovic@fil.bg.ac.rs
THE MOTIVE OF DIFFICULT TASKS AND THE PLANT

CODE IN SERBIAN AND SOUTH SLAV FOLKLORE*
Abstract
This paper analyses the selected motifs of difficult tasks connected with
the plant code of Serbian and South Slav folklore. According to Vladimir Propp
(Morphology of the Folktale, 1928), difficult tasks in folktales are stable elements,
the functions of the characters, while content of the tasks varies. In his opinion,
only the tasks connected to courtship or wedding can be considered relevant,
since they are based on hostility of princess or her father toward suitor or false
suitor. Tasks are conceived as extremely difficult, impossible, or absurd, but the
hero succeeds to obtain marvelous fruit or flower thanks to the magic helper. The
purpose of assigning difficult tasks is to put the hero on trial, however the focus
is not on hero’s physical strength, but on helper’s magic powers. Propp even
suggests that this motif could point to the wedding custom of testing heir’s magic
powers.
Among various kinds of tasks that concern the plant code, we considered a
quest for magic or impossible fruit or flower, or which is out of season; guarding
the golden apple or other tree that sprouts and bears fruit in the same night. Folk
heroes or heroines can be ordered to water withered or burnt wood stub until
it turns green, or they can be tested to solve a riddle and fulfill absurd/alogical
requests. These tasks are usually conveyed as adynata – formulas of impossibility,
and they can be found in various folklore genres – folk tales, legends, epic and
lyric songs, ballads, proverbs, phrases.
The content of the tasks connected to the plant code is paradoxical and
contrary to laws of nature, and it can assume grafting or unnatural maturation of
the fruit. But, grapes growing on a willow, apples on a maple or a poplar, quinces
on a purple osier, or miraculous new buds, leaves, or flowers which put forth from
a withered tree (maple, or linden, oleaster, oak, birch), can be regarded as parts
*
This paper is the fruit of research undertaken as part of the project Језик, фолклор и миграције
на Балкану (No. 178010) [Language, Folklore and Migration in the Balkans] at the Institute
for Balkan Studies. The project is supported by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and
Technological Advancement.
53
Sonja D. Petrović
of mundus inversus, ‘world upside down’ and adynata, where contradictions are
brought together, like fruitful and barren.
Impossible fruit, or other impossible objects that folk heroes must procure
(cf. S. Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk Literature, H1010–H1049. Impossible or
absurd tasks; H1050–H1089. Paradoxical tasks), are “property” of nature, gods,
spirits, so the testing is obligatory, like in myths about acquiring cultural goods.
Such impossible tasks regarding the plant code can be found in tale types of
unfaithful mother, wife, sister (ATU 590, 315), and in jokes and anecdotes about
unfaithful wife who pretends to be sick (ATU 1360C, Old Hildebrand). The quest
for exotic fruit or flower, motivated variously (by search for a marvelous remedy,
healing herbs etc.), the conflict with demonic master of miraculous garden/fertile
land (monster, beast, dragon), trial and redemption of the great sinner, or the like,
can be part of folktales and legends (ATU 425C, 530, 550, 551, 610, 756C). In
lyric and epic songs and ballads, search for impossible fruit/flower, or growing
seed on stony or sandy ground, can be part of a trial in the abduction theme,
or it can be combined with announcement of wedding or predictions of death.
Motif and adynaton of withered tree turning green can be connected to the theme
of slandered hero/heroine, and adversely, green forest dries in order to sentence
amoral deeds. It can be concluded that Serbian and South Slav folklore material
shows great variety in selection of the fruit, flowers, and herbs, and that they
represent important and interesting component of the motif of impossible tasks.
54
MARVELLOUS PLANTS IN LYRICAL FOLK SONGS
UDC: 821.163.09-14:398:[392:58
Ana V. Vukmanović
Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation
ana.vukmanovic@hotmail.com
The ordinary world of the performers of lyrical songs and their audiences is inhabited
by mythical representations of the tree of the world, “hybrid” plants (maple-rose), the
floral habitats of demonic beings and metamorphoses of humans into plants, as well
as the ritual and magical use of plants. For contemporary people, such representations
are sources of the marvellous, even the fantastic. The floral motifs in these songs are
poetically related to heroes and spaces, their attributes or their defamiliarization. Magic
strengthens the power of plants, and the positioning of plants as devices through which
magic is achieved relativizes the weak/strong opposition. The role of the marvellous in
poetic language, in various hyperboles and metaphors, as well as in deritualized lexical
combinations, is particularly problematic. In the representations of plants within these
songs, characteristics of the marvellous may sometimes be found in the ritual layers of
lyrics, but they can also be an integral part of their poetic language.
Key terms: lyrical folk poetry, the marvellous, mythical representations, attribution,
defamiliarization, magic, poetic language
Tzvetan Todorov (Тодоров 2010: 59) believes that the fantastic cannot
occur in poetry, because the fantastic requires a reaction to events which occur
in the real world, whereas poetry is non-representational, and a lyrical style does
not reproduce an event (Штајгер 1978: 371). However, folk songs are typically
intimately connected with human life from birth till death; they are tied to
the moment of performance, to the concrete, to nature as it exists around the
performance, and to very real people (Лихачов 1972: 293). Although the world
of folklore is not identical to the world of the song, the song world is modelled
against this world of folklore, and established relationships exist between these
two worlds (cf. Lotman 2001:25). This is why the concept of the marvellous
has a close relationship with the poetics of lyrical folk songs. As a result of this,
the apparition of fantastic events or beings within these songs does not provoke
any special reaction (Todorov 2010: 53). Within their holistic world, where the
borders between this-worldly and other-worldly are porous, contact with the
supernatural is not a surprising event, but a part of an “everyday” experience.2
1 Unless noted differently, all citations are translated from the Serbian translations of authors and
publications cited in the reference list, for the purpose of this paper.
2 On the subject of the differences between the marvellous and the fantastic in fairytales, Roger
Caillois (Кајоа 1978: 69-75), notes that the supernatural element in a fairytale is not strange,
because it represents the substance and the rules of the world where charms are natural and magic
55
Ana V. Vukmanović
Accordingly, when modelling marvellous plants within folk songs, all

Todorov’s (Тодоров 2010: 105-115) supernatural factors appear: (a) metamorphoses
– e.g. girls may turn into firs, roses or herbs and boys turn into pines; (b) supernatural
beings – e.g. sacred plants, plants that can speak or vilas’ plants; (c) transformation
of spirit into substance – e.g. a girl’s spirit may enter a chequer tree; (d) time is
suspended – e.g. basil is planted, it grows new shoots and blossoms within the
space of one night; (e) space is transformed – e.g. flowers create strong borders or
are a means to transcend strong borders (cf. the motif of a wreath/rosemary which
is used to transport wedding guests across a water barrier such as a river).
The marvellous world of plants is primarily present in the ritual and
mythical layer of folk songs, but it may also be introduced to them by means
of figurative speech, hyperbole and metaphors (Самарџија 2011: 314). As a
result, the marvellous in these songs oscillates between magical-ritual rules and
figures of speech (Сaмарџија 2011: 311). The representations of plants with
marvellous features in songs are based on alternation between the ordinary and
the extraordinary, the literal and the symbolic, and are often centred on a miracle
(Самарџија 2011: 311–312).
The modelling of marvellous plants is defined by various codes. When a
plant (basil) grows fast, a temporal code is involved in the increased speed, to
characterize a sacral time which is condensed in relation to profane time. During
rituals (such as weddings, for example), gardens become liminal spaces through
the involvement of a locative code – they separate one’s own space from somebody
else’s, a familiar space from that which is unknown, a space that is safe from the
other, dangerous one. Additionally, through an object code, plants can become a
means to achieve something – the catkins from a Lombardy poplar can open a
passage to other worlds, a wreath woven from plants can help a protagonist to
transcend a boundary between worlds, a plant can act as an apotropaion and have
protective magic powers. These codes may be combined: the representation of a
plant as a marvellous gift (which is the case when a poplar blossoms with roses,
for example) involves a combination of object and action codes and features
during the ritual bestowal of gifts in wedding celebrations.
There are several different functions that a plant can perform in a folk
song. Within the mythical layer, it can be used to represent the world as a whole:
the tree of the world is the most basic mythical representation that activates floral
symbolism.
Кад ја дођо’ витој јели,/ When I came to the slim fir tree,
ал’ се јела понијела,/ How it grew!
брду гране узнијела,/ Its branches rose up the hill,
из вршка јој бисер сипа,/ From its top pearls poured
is expected. Still, whereas the world of the fairytale is not connected to the everyday world, because
it falls under different set of rules (cf. Kajoa1978: 71), the world of lyrical folk poetry is intertwined
with it, and the supernatural element is just one of its aspects. Hence it is possible to have the
category of the marvellous in lyrical poetry.
56
из сриједе пчеле лете,/ From its middle bees flew

а иза дна рујно тече/ From its bottom red wine streamed.
(Карановић 1990: No. 71)
In this example, the tree forming the vertical root-branch axis is analogous
to the cosmic vertical which connects the underworld to the earth and the sky.
The fir tree is a poetic analogy to the tree of the world; its height, longevity and
beauty make it so (as well as its attributes tall, slim, green, thin and with a thinly
tapered crown; cf. Самарџија 2014); and it occupies a prominent position among
religious representations (Чајкановић 1994: 106). When it features in a song, it
may also announce a wedding. All of the three levels of meaning combined in
this tree are brought together by the symbols of fertility (pearl, bees and wine)
which make the fir tree marvellous. Since it gives pearls, and wine flows from
its roots, it is also a marvellously hybrid plant. It corresponds with a marvellous
girl, from whose forehead the sun glows and from whose throat the moon shines.
Accordingly, the fir tree is marvellous and functions as an omen3, announcing
the appearance of the girl, and implicitly, the wedding. The tallness of the tree is
emphasized by the uphill direction of the branches, which is a doubly mythical
image, since the mountain is also a symbol for the axis of the world (Елијаде
2003: 88).
In addition to the tree, fruit may also establish a cosmic vertical axis in
songs. The apple is a symbol of the divine when it initiates thunder:
Титрала се липа Мара/ Pretty Mara plays
малом златном јабучицом./ with a small golden apple.
Кад јабука земљом лети,/ When the apple flies over the earth,
црна земља јеком јечи;/ the black earth resounds in sounds;
кад јабука к небу лети,/ When the apple flies to the sky,
ведро небо позвекује./ Clear skies clink.
(Рајковић 1869: No. 78)
Here the flight of the apple forms the axis earth/sky, the binary nature of
which is emphasized using the visual code – by the contrast clear/black in the
formulaic expressions (black earth, clear skies); it is also underlined by an auditive
effect – jekom, zveketom (resounding/clinking). A connection with the heavenly
sphere is also established by the relationship gold+apple, which can activate a
variety of meanings in folk belief and oral literature (Самарџија 2013: 61).4 The
apple with which Mara plays symbolizes a small sun on the earth which will
intersect with another celestial phenomenon – thunder. As in the previous song,
3 A miracle functioning as an omen is a sign of divine involvement in human matters (Лома 2002:
22–35).
4 In religious terms, the apple is a liminal tree – its fruit can be sacrificial (as an offering to a
well which is a cult space in wedding rituals, when a bride gives it to her new home, or when
the wedding guests throw it into the river when crossing a bridge, and because it is planted on
graveyards, when it is related to the cult of the dead (Чајкановић 1994: 92-99).
57
Ana V. Vukmanović
the plant (the apple) and the girl form a pair. The apple becomes the marvellous
means that moves the world, and Mara, causing the sounds in heaven and earth,
drives the atmospheric phenomena and becomes an alternative god of thunder.5
The lyrical song corresponds with the mythical representation of
inhomogeneous space (see Kasirer 1985: 92) when it contains the motif of a
(Lombardy) poplar which unlocks a locked house, which also implies the
unlocking of the other spatial plane:
Ој ђевојко, б’јела, ведра,/ Hey, girl, white and merry,
Ђе си воде куповала?/ Where did you get the water?
Ниже села невесела,/ Down under a sad village,
Ђено јаблан дрво расте;/ Where a poplar tree grows;
У јаблану дуге гране,/ The poplar has long branches,
На гранама златне ресе./ On these branches grow golden catkins.
Отуд иде брат и сестра,/ There came a brother and a sister,
сека брацу говорила:/ The sister told the brother:
„Стан’, причекај, мили брате!/ Stop, wait, my dear brother!
да прикучим дуге гране,/ Let me bring the long branches closer,
да саберем златне ресе,/ to collect the golden catkins,
да ја носим куј-ковачу,/ to take them to the blacksmith,
да ми кује златне кључе,/ to have him make me golden keys,
да отворим б’јеле дворе,/ to open the white castle,
да ја видим ко ј’ у двору“ / to see who is in it.
(Карановић 1999: No. 1)6
The structure of the song is tripartite – in the first layer, the water-bearing
girl narrates a scene which takes place on the second level, about a brother and
a sister who open the white castle, to discover the third level where a heavenly
wedding is taking place. This three-part structure is echoed by multiple cosmic
representations: the tree of the world, the holy wedding and the heavenly city,
5 For more on the motif of playing with an apple, see Јокић 2007: 33–45.
6 An apple also makes it possible to open a passage:
Играх се златном јабуком/ I played with a golden apple
по пољу по мједеноме,/ in a copper-like field,
по гувну по сребрноме,/ on a silver threshing floor,
одскоком скочи јабука,/ the apple jumped high,
удара Будви у врата,/ hit Budva’s door
саломи врата на двоје,/ broke the door in two,
а кључаницу на троје,/ and the key in three
просу се бисер по перја/ and the pearls spilled onto the feathers.
(Караџић 1975: No. 68)
The context of this song is a ritual. The girl makes wedding gifts from pearls and feathers. The
passage opens towards the other’s/stranger’s human space, which invokes a wedding space
divided into the bride’s and the bridegroom’s. Implicitly, the marvellous apple is not only a key
for the passage between the two worlds, but also a ritual gift and an important symbol of fertility
(Чајкановић 1994: 95-96). In modelling plants as marvellous means to open other spaces, these
poems establish a connection with the legend about laserwort within the wider folklore system.
58
all of which are alternates of the same mythical idea about establishing a cosmic
order. The positioning of the poplar near the water activates liminal symbolism
and makes multiple meanings possible, so the tree catkins from the liminal
second-level space turn into a magic device to open the passage between the
worlds, represented by the white castle, where the holy wedding between the girl
and the Moon is being prepared. Both the apple which featured in the previous
example and the poplar catkins which feature in this one have the same attribute,
golden, and in both songs it invokes the meaning of a plant with unusual powers.
Plants are defamiliarized when they are modelled as the means through
which the marvellous can appear and when a person uses them to overcome
temporal obstacles. In the following example, the spatial-floral complex is built
by the boy’s answer to the girl, when he has warned her that she cannot follow
him over the field and water:
„Прећићу смиље-поље, смиље берући,/
I will cross the field of immortelle, immortelle picking,
Пливаћу Либер-воду, венац вијући“ /
I will swim over the Liber-water, wreath weaving.
Here, crossing the field has the meaning of clearing the road toward a
goal, conquering a wild space by picking plants. The girl called Smilja easily
removes smilje (immortelle), because the name she shares with the flower makes
her related to it, and indicates that they belong to analogous worlds. Although it
remains unclear how the weaving of the wreath can help Smilja cross the river,
its marvellous powers over water are also confirmed by other lyrical songs (for
example, Караџић 1975: No. 74). Whether it serves as a means to cross from
one world into another or as a magical object, the girl manipulates the wreath to
transcend the water border and rein in the elements. Just as the key made of poplar
catkins unlocked the passage to the other world, so the wreath enables the girl to
cross over to the other (boy’s) world. The power of the wreath lies in its combined
symbolisms of the circle as representation of cyclical time and the basic form of
space structuring (Толстој–Раденковић 2001: 312), as well as in the magic of the
plants from which it is made (Толстој–Раденковић 2001: 71–72).
Plants do not function just as marvellous means to achieve a goal, but also
as marvellous gifts:
S one strane Save vode/ On the other side of the Sava water
jablan-drvo ružom cvate;/ a poplar tree blossoms with roses;
za tu ružu niko ne zna,/ Nobody knows about these roses,
samo jedno mlado momče./ Except a young lad.
Pun je šešir natrgao,/ He picked a full hat of them,
I svilene rukavice,/ And silk gloves,
Pa ih šalje Zagrad-caru./ And sent them to Zagrad-tsar.
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Ana V. Vukmanović
[…]
Al govori Zagrad-care:/ But Zagrad-tsar said:
„Što ćemo mu dara dati?/” What gift should we give him?
Dat ćemo mu djevojčicu!“/ We shall give him a girl!”
Momče oči razoblači,/ The lad opened his cloudless eyes,
iz čela mu sunce sjalo,/ From his forehead the sun shone,
a iz lica mjesečina./ From his face came moonshine.
(Andrić 1929: No. 199)
In this example, the defamiliarization procedure - the unusual blossoming

of the tree - serves to create a hybrid representation of the poplar-rose. The motif
of the marvellous fruit becomes a precondition for the boy to get the girl he wants
as a reward, which corresponds with a fairytale; the boy is an initiate with a
difficult task to perform and prove that he is ready to be married. By activating the
formula (a typical representation of female beauty) at the end, the singer models
the boy as a marvellous being too. His strength lies in knowing about the secret
“rose” poplar, his ability to navigate the water border and his ambivalent solar
and lunar nature. The complex of the marvellous consists of the plant, the space
and the boy.7 A comparison of different realizations of the poplar motif shows
how the same plant can be modelled in various ways – as a marvellous means to
achieve a result or as a marvellous gift, with different functions – getting the girl
and revealing a secret.
While in the object code plants can be marvellous means to an end or
gifts, in the spatial code they can be habitats of supernatural beings:
Прође Јово јасен-гору,/ Jovo went through the ash-mountain,
зађеде му јасен клобук./ ash caught on his hat.
Обрну се за собоме/ He turned around
и поглед(н)у на јасену – / and looked at the ash -
кад на јасен’ б’јела вила!/ and there he saw a white vila!
Запе стрелу да је стр’јеља/ He pulled his bow to shoot an arrow at her
(Караџић 1973: No. 134)
By going through the ash mountain, Jovo has broken a taboo, violated
vilas’ space and put himself into a dangerous situation – the connection between
vilas and trees8 is a strong one: they come out of the trees, live in them, and
spend time underneath them, dancing and healing others (Поповић 2014: 25).
7 The cloudlessness establishes the relationship between the boy and the hero from a dodola (rain-
invoking) song:
Какав јунак пољем језди, / What a man rides through the fields,
носи сабљу у зубима,/ Sabre in his teeth,
носи кишу у очима/ Rain in his eyes.
(Солдатовић 1924: IV, 26)
This makes the boy a master of rain who can manipulate the skies, i.e. make the air clear or cloudy.
8 For more on the relationship between vilas and fir trees, see Карановић 2010: 293–294;
Самарџија 2014.
60
The marvellous therefore here becomes dangerous, and the song emphasizes
the power of a human being over a demon and its space. The skill of archery
overcomes the supernatural powers and the human being refuses the vila’s gifts
– without her help he will have a son and will be (or already is) a true hero. Such
a relationship between the hero and the demonic being shows that, in Todorov’s
terms (2010: 42), the marvellous is closely related with the nature of folk songs,
because it does not leave space for uncertainty – neither the singers nor the
listeners doubt their senses, but believe in a world where there are no strong
borders between the human and the non-human, this-wordly and other-wordly.
Jovo does not show surprise, but is ready to confront the vila and is determined
to go through the ash-mountain.
Plants with a soul are sacred (Поповић 2014: 24), and they too can be
considered supernatural beings. The following metamorphosis describes two
initiations: one that is interrupted and the other that is announced:
Пасла мома јеленке,/ A girl led deer to graze,
на воду их навраћа,/ brought them to the water,
јеленци јој пређоше,/ the deer crossed over,
ал’ не може та мома,/ but the girl could not,
осврте се јеленак,/ a deer turned around,
узе мому на роге,/ lifted the girl onto his antlers,
пак је хита на бреге./ and sent her flying to the hill.
Где је мома паднула,/ Where the girl fell,
ту је расла брекиња./ a chequer tree grew.
К њој доходе чобани,/ Shepherds came to her,
подсјекоше брекињу,/ cut the chequer tree,
од ње праве свирале,/ made fifes from it,
у свирале говоре:/ into the fifes they said:
„Преди, момо, дарове.“ / Weave the gifts, girl.”
(Караџић 1975: No. 244)
Both lyrical “stories” are about a marvellous chequer tree, so the common
motif unites them into a structural whole. The soul of the girl is tied to the tree
into which she turned because she could not cross the (water) barrier and finalize
the wedding initiation which was announced by the contact with the deer. The
chequer tree is the habitat of the girl’s soul and she continues to live through
the tree. On the other hand, the tree encodes an analogous position of a living
girl, who receives help from the dead girl to go through the rite of passage (cf.
Карановић 2010: 284). The chequer tree is a marvellous means to achieve an
end, and a fife is made of it to send the message to the girl – to weave gifts and
prepare for the wedding.
Another source of the marvellous in plant representations is their
relationship with magic. When a poem is about basil which grows quickly, it
indicates general fertility in the world, as in the following example:
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Ana V. Vukmanović
Сад се Смиља сватовима нада./ Now Smilja hopes for wedding guests,
Ваздан данас улицу чистила,/ For the whole day she swept the street.
По улици сенице правила, / Made shade in the street,
По сенице босиљак сејала,/ She planted basil in the shade,
На Јовину срећу наменила:/ Dedicated it to Jova’s happiness
Ако буде добре среће Јова,/ If good luck finds him,
Босиљак ће још с вечери нићи,/ The basil will sprout tonight,
У поноћи до два пера бити,/ Two leaves will be there by midnight,
А у зору сватове китити./ And at dawn it will adorn the wedding
guests.
Here basil is defamiliarized by the temporal code. It rapidly goes through
vegetative phases which usually take days, weeks and months, growing during
condensed holy time. The marvellous appears on three levels – it is embodied
in the plant, holy time and the girl who directs the growth of the basil. Whereas
in fairytales the fast growth of a plant is a difficult task which the hero masters
because he is helped by a magical helper9, the power to produce such growth
in lyrical songs is the attribute of a girl. By making the basil grow and blossom
during a single night, Smilja proves her magical ability to create and direct time. In
addition to being a magical product, basil is also a magical object – an apotropaion
(Чајкановић 1994: 37–39), so the ornaments made from its marvellous flowers
will protect Jova during the wedding ritual.
In the magical layer of culture, plants are defamiliarized through a semantic
relationship between the strong and the weak. In the following song, real space is
transformed into an insurmountable obstacle:
Станa ми се сватовима нада / My Stana was hoping for wedding guests
у неђељу која прва дође,/ on the first Sunday to come,
на путу је босиље садила,/ she planted basil on the road,
покрај пута руже и виоле,/ along the road, roses and violets,
око двора ситну мачурану,/ around the house, tiny oregano,
а пред дворе зелену наранчу./ and in front of the house, green orange.
Кад се беху свати подигнули,/ When the guests started to come,
не умију двору пута наћи/ they could not find their way to the house
од мириса рана босиока,/ because of the smell of the basil,
од љепоте руже и виоле,/ because of the beauty of the roses and violets,
од честине ситне мачуране,/ because of the thickness of the tiny oregano,
од ширине зелене наранче,/ because of the width of the green orange,
од трепета сивијех сокола/ because of the fluttering wings of the grey
falcon.
(Караџић 1898: No. 74)
9 A girl in the fairy tale Zlatoruni ovan/Ram with golden fleece makes the vineyard give wine
seven days after planting of the vines (Караџић 1969: 112).
62
Within a wedding ritual, the impenetrable plants represent a great border,

regardless of how impenetrable the actual plants involved would be in the real
world. They prevent unfamiliar people from coming into the girl’s space. The
garden therefore becomes transformed and analogous to the mountain. The
beautiful fragrance of the basil, rose and oregano becomes an obstacle for the
wedding guests who come from another’s land and are therefore “other”. The
magical power of these plants is so strong that it can be destroyed only from
within. In accordance with the ritual demand, the girl advises the guests how to
find the way, i.e. gives them permission to destroy her world:
„Првијенче, дико од сватова!/ My first, honourable guest!
Ви од паса сабље извадите,/ Take out your sabres,
покосите ситну мачурану,/ Cut the tiny oregano,
поткрешите зелену наранчу,/ Trim the green orange,
накитите себе и коњице,/ Adorn yourself and your horses,
уљезите мене у дворове“./ Come into my house.
The initial power of the flowery obstacle diminishes with the heroine’s
approval and the physical strength of the wedding guests. The flowers maintain
their apotropaic strength, because even cut, as ornaments, they protect the guests
in the girl’s world – which is now unknown to the guests. The ritual border
becomes a magical protective shield. The marvellous features of the flowers are
thus modelled by spatial and object codes.
Love magic is particularly close to the poetics of folk songs. Plants are
manipulated to incite love:
„Кад сам прву вечеру донела, / When I brought the first dinner,
у вечери деветора биља:/ There were nine plants:
милодуа, да се милујемо; / A hyssop flower to make us caress;
калопера, да ме не отера; / sage, so that he does not drive me away;
љубичице, да ме свагда љуби; / violets, to make him always kiss me;
каранфила, да се не карамо; / carnation, so that we do not quarrel;
чубра цвећа, да ме добро чува; / summer savory, so that he cherishes me;
босиока, да м’ не смеће с ока;/ basil, so his eyes never stray from me;
а невена да му срце вене; / A marigold, to make his heart wither.
(Караџић 1975: No. 645)
The magical effects here are based on euphony. The marvellous power of
the flowers is not explained with reasoning related to the supernatural world, such
as a relationship with the other world or with demonic beings, but with sound
analogies. The figures of speech which are involved in the auditive effect are
based on etymology – when lexemes (names of the flowers and actions) have the
same root (flower miloduh – verb milovati, flower ljubičica – verb ljubiti, neven
– verb venuti) and similar rhymes (kalopera – ne otera, bosioka – oka etc.). In
mythical thinking, a relationship is formed between the sound and the meaning
63
Ana V. Vukmanović
of the plant’s name, i.e. the names, the things and beings named in the poem
(Kasirer 1985: 51).
When magical language is separated from the magical act, it becomes
aesthetic. Plants create images with unclear meanings, which today look like mere
world plays and euphonic combinations. However, their usual initial positions in
ritual and customary poems indicate that they may once have had more complex
magic meanings. These songs therefore display a metamorphosis of a miracle
into a miraculous quality of words (Самарџија 2013: 61).10
Combinations of expressions with the meaning that something is not to
happen or that something is impossible are especially marvellous. When a sister
asks a brother when he will visit her, he answers:
„Znaš li, seko, kad ću dojti?/”My dear sister, do you know when I will come?
Kad urodi vrba grožđem,/ When grapes grow on willow,
suhi javor jabukami,/ apples on a dry maple,
bijeli pelin bundevami.“/ pumpkins on a white wormwood.”
Al je seka mudrа bila,/ But the sister was wise,
vrbu grožđem zakitila,/ she decorated a willow with grapes,
a javora jabukami,/ a maple with apples,
bijeli pelin bundevami./ a white wormwood with pumpkins.
(Kuhač 1941: No. 284)
Although in these positions the miracle is subordinated to the rational and

the possibility of the existence of the miracle is negated, it is a reservoir of possible
meanings and poetic images. Just as songs in a deritualized context preserve the
remnants of ritual and mythical representations, as formulae preserve even the
meanings from other actualizations (Крњевић 1988:129), so metaphors and
negated miracles are indicative of the implicit existence of a marvellous lyrical
world, where hybrid plants can grow – willows can grow grapes, maple trees,
apples and the wormwood, pumpkins.
The semantics of floral motifs within folk songs depends on the context
where they are sung. In the ritual-mythical layer of the songs, marvellous plants
constitute the world and form various chronotopes. In the magical layer, plants
are modelled as a magic/apotropaic means or as a marvellous gift. On the other
hand, the miracle is relativized when unusual plants are an integral part of the
poetic language. The meanings of this miracle are made more complex by its
structural and poetic relationship with the characters in the songs, when the plants
serve to motivate the actions and the power of the marvellous girls (rarely boys).
The indissociable combination of the profane and the sacral, the poetic and the
ritual in floral representations within lyrical folk songs essentially marks the way
the world is experienced within the songs and the atmosphere of the songs. It is
10 Examples of verses showing how magical language becomes aesthetic and blurs the meaning
of songs are untranslatable, so this part of the Serbian text has been omitted from the English
version.
64
this connectedness of the human, the natural and the supernatural that leads to the
anthropological and poetic position of the lyrical, where the main semantic point
is not the existence of a miracle, but the miracle of existence, with “the human
being as the most marvellous miracle, which rules the miracles” (Самарџија
2011: 314–315).
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Kajoa 1978: R. Kajoa, Od bajke do „naučne fantastike“, In: M. Drndarski (prir.), Narodna
bajka u modernoj književnosti, Beograd: Nolit.
Kasirer 1985: E. Kasirer, Filozofija simboličkih oblika. Drugi deo: Mitsko mišljenje,
NoviSad: Dnevnik, Književna zajednica Novog Sada.
Kuhač 1941: F. Kuhač, Južno-slovjenske narodne popievke V, Zagreb.
Lotman 2001: J. Lotman, Struktura umjetničkog teksta, Zagreb: Alfa.
Štajger 1978: E. Štajger, Umeće tumačenja, Beograd: Prosveta.
Todorov 2010: C. Todorov, Uvod u fantastičnu književnost, Beograd: Službeni glasnik.

66
THE ROOTLESS TREE: DENDRONYMS IN SOUTH SLAVIC RIDDLES
UDC: 821.163.09-193.1:398:[811.163’373.22:582.091
821.163.41.09-193.1:398:[811.163.41’373.22:582.091

Serbian Academy of Science and Arts
Institute for Balkan Studies, Belgrade
biljana.sikimic@bi.sanu.ac.rs
THE ROOTLESS TREE: DENDRONYMS IN SOUTH

SLAVIC RIDDLES
Abstract
In their studies of the traditional Slavic culture, Russian ethnolinguists
have shown that the tree is one of the basic elements in the traditional picture of
the world, which determines its spatial and temporal character. They have shown
that the tree has features of a universal mediator, which at the same time belongs
to the upper, middle and lower worlds. Trees and bushes are believed to have the
same meaning, and the symbolism of dendronyms are rather stable categories.
For example, a tall tree, a fertile tree (which can be domesticated and wild), a cult
tree, all have their ritual and mythological characteristics. These characteristics
reflect an anthropocentric view, since the dichotomies applied depend on the
functions of the tree in human culture: fertile/infertile, domesticated/wild, male/
female, happy/unhappy, clean/unclean. Some trees appear in the traditional
culture as single units, without a pair – these are tall trees (cult trees such as
an oak and a hornbeam), fast-growing trees (a willow), evergreen trees, trees
with two trunks growing from one root, lonely trees, those with thorns and other
similar trees.
The paper deals with the conceptualization of tree and wood in the South
Slavic traditional riddles. The study is divided into two asymmetrical parts, the
first, considerably shorter part, deals with the tree as riddle solution. The second
part of the study deals with the tree in the text of the riddle. The analysis covers
riddles with motifs of fighting rams and the model of riddles in which a human
hand is represented as a tree. Next topic is logical analysis of the riddles in which
the human body, in its natural vertical position, is presented as a geographical
landscape, and a ’forest’ or ’grass’ replace ’hair’. At the level of folklore formulae,
this study addresses the formula which locates some object at the top of a tree.
Morphological characteristics of tree trunks are only sporadically compared
to an anthropomorphous body in riddles. It is important to note that, unlike Slavic
languages, non-Slavic languages use different lexemes to denote tree trunk and
timber. This linguistic fact does not affect the paremiological system, but has
some bearing on the way denotata are defined and how riddles are systematized
in some folklore compilations.
67
The analysis of the corpus of South Slavic traditional riddles, which is

mostly based on the Stojan Novaković’s compilation (1877), has shown that the
type of the tree (dendronym) in the text of the riddle is arbitrary. A dendronym
used in a riddle is usually directly related to a folklore formula, and can be replaced
with any other dendronym without affecting the logic of the riddle. South Slavic
paremiological dendronyms such as pine, oak and fir are almost always mutually
replaceable except when they are segments of the folklore formula. This function
is always born by a wild tree, never one that is fertile and domesticated. On the
other hand, these small distinctive qualities of various types of wild trees are the
main reason why dendronyms are rare denotata in South Slavic riddles. A notable
exception is bramble, a tree with thorns, which is why it could be the object of the
traditional (and literary) riddles.
68
THE MOTIF OF EXTINGUISHING FIRE WITH GRASS...
UDC: 821.163.09-193.1:398:[811.163’373.22:582.091
821.163.41.09-193.1:398:[811.163.41’373.22:582.091

Institute for Literature and Art
Belgrade
smiljana78@yahoo.com
THE MOTIF OF EXTINGUISHING FIRE WITH GRASS AND

WATER IN ONE TYPE OF SERBIAN AND SOUTH SLAVIC
CHANTING*
The paper presents the results of our research into South Slavic chanting against skin
diseases (type A14/1.3 according to the system established in Кляус 1997). This type
of model is made up of a relatively simple bi-partite plot structure. The first part contains
the motif of an object set ablaze, and the second part introduces an actor who extinguishes
the fire (with grass and water). Our analysis of the spectrum of plants used in these rituals
shows that the magical text itself tends to reduce the spectrum of activated plants to
the unnamed green grass, which is justifiable from the standpoint of ‘textual economy’.
Green plants hold a variety of meanings in the traditional culture, so its symbolism can be
viewed as corresponding to the ambivalent representation of water, combining lustrative
function and that of mediation.
Key terms: ritual, incantations, magical text, plants, green grass, fire.
The starting point for this study was the field research into the tradition of
chanting July and August 2006, during which incantations were recorded, and
the results of this research. Firstly the material compiled in conversations with
the last living informant who practices the tradition of chanting in the Serbian
village of Tamnič near Negotin1 will be presented, then the text of incantations od
crvenog vetra (against the red wind, also known as erysipelas or holy fire) will
be analysed, with special reference to the South Slavic context and its special
features.
For our informant in the field research, chanting is inherited knowledge
about magic, passed on matrilinearily, which will most likely disappear with
her. It is possible that the broken principle of transmission led in this case to
*
This paper resulted from research undertaken as part of the project Serbian Folklore in
Intercultural Code (No. 178011) at the Institute for Literature and Art in Belgrade. The project is
supported by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Advancement
1 The field research into traditional culture in the vicinity of Negotin – it included the Serb villages
of Rečka, Vidrovac, Karbulovo and Tamnič and the Vlach village of Urovica. The members of the
research team were the ethnolinguists and linguistic anthropologists Biljana Sikimić, Anamarija
Soresku-Marinković and Svetlana Ćirković (from the Institute for Balkan Studies of the Serbian
Academy of Sciences and Arts), the dialectologist Nenad Radosavljević and the author of this study.
69
the text losing its taboo value and being ‘opened up’ to those who, in the more
traditional sense, had not been ‘called’ to possess and preserve this knowledge.
The informant recited three incantations which, as she herself acknowledged,
comprise the entirety of her knowledge about magic. “Dictation” was deemed to
be a suitable way to record the text for the purposes of this research; however,
this method did result in an interpretation devoid of the authentic rhythm and
intonation of chanting.2
С: То од уроци... / I3: Against urok4...
Скочи урок на урочицу... / Urok jumped on uročica5
Чудно дете наградише... / They gave the child a strange gift...
На детету троје очи... / Three eyes the child has...
Једно уриче, друго одриче... / One to cast urok, the other to undo it...
Треће му лек давају... / The third to cure it...
Ако буде мушка страна... / If a male casts urok...
I: It’s getting cold, should I close this window?

R: No, no, I’m not cold.
С: Ако буде мушка страна, / I: If a male casts urok...

Нек му пукну муда... / May his balls burst,
Ако жена, нек ју пукну очи... / If a woman does, may her eyes burst...
Ако девојка, нек ју пукну сисе... / If a girl does, may her tits burst....
Прођте уроци... међу очију... / Go away, uroci...between the eyes...
Ка девојка од седељке... / Like a girl from a party...
Невеста из цркве... / A bride from church...
Као магла... преко три поља... / Like fog... over three fields...
I: So there, that’s against uroci.6
2 For a more detailed discussion on autoreception in traditional healing see Ђорђевић 2008.
3 I=informant, R=researcher
4 Urok (uroci, pl, uročica, fem.) = a look or an act which, according to folk belief, can
bring misfortune on someone; urok and uročica may also be personified and feature as
characters within a plot.
5 The transcription follows the informant’s speech as closely as possible. This kind of text differs
considerably from the typical way of representing folklore material. It is a syncretic, hybrid form
(i.e. a type of a “mythological text”) (Левкиевская 2006) that presents chanting as a specific
aspect of collective knowledge, traditional knowledge presented from an individual point of view.
This procedure is in accordance with the requirements of contemporary folklore studies, whose
theoretical and methodological paradigms include, among other things, presentations of culture
from an insider’s point of view on every aspect of theoretical considerations and analysis. Long
pauses in dictation are shown through the way in which the text is segmented. Punctuation symbols
were introduced later. The translation follows the original Serbian as closely as possible, replicating
repetitions, redundancies and ellipses.
6 This is a typical text within the South Slavic tradition of chanting against urok: it features
the urok/uročica pair, obscene motifs, the motif of a miracle, the bursting of certain parts of the
body, and a tripartite comparative structure, with the expected repertoire of realia in the concluding
70
R: Now, when you say it, do you say it slowly, like you did just now, or?
I: You say it, you can also say it so that…so that nobody hears, but you can
also say it aloud, but three times, you repeat it aloud.
R: And what is it you do while saying these things?
I: You take basil ... and chant and pass the basil over the forehead...
R: How? Like this? [I show with my hand]
I: Like that, you say it with basil over the forehead... Or like this... You
take your sleeve, then over the head…: When it comes to my sleeve ... to count
the threads.... then, then they cast urok on you... You repeat it up to three times...
There you go, that’s it. Do you need more?
R: And the basil you mentioned first, what do you do with it?
I: You stick it behind the child’s ear... and the child sleeps with it there one
night...
R: When do you..., what part of a day?
I: You know how the saying goes... When it catches fire, then you put it
out, when there is sickness, then you chant...
[...]
R: And how does a child get under the spell of urok, what you said, and
uroci?
I: This is how. When you love a child, if... your eyes are hungry for it, and
... that’s why you should when you see someone’s child you should remember
... about uroci, so that you don’t cast urok on it... And with me usually, I like
children very much... and I need to remember, and I need to take my sleeve and
say above the child’s head: – When they come to my sleeve to count the wires,
then they cast urok on you, when they come to my sleeve to count wires, then
they cast urok on you, up to three times ...7 And afterwards, no uroci ... And that
is usually, when a child is born, what I tell everybody, as soon as you get up in the
morning and the child has woken up, right away you do like this over its head:
When it comes to my sleeve to count the wires, then they cast urok on you, up to
three times like that...Afterwards the child won’t suffer from uroci...
[1.2]
I: And what we say about vilas... that chanting goes like this, write it down...
The Mother of God goes up the road, down the road [a pause, the informant
is waiting for me to write it down]
A sick man meets her
– What ails you – The Mother of God asks him.
– Why are you yellow-skinned, why do you wail?
formula (cf. Раденковић 2001: 551−553; see also Ђорђевић 2000).

7 An oral magical formula with a prophylactic function is formed as a conditional structure with
the motif of “impossible tasks” coupled with a synchronized action code (circling with a hand over
the child’s forehead).
71
– Well, Mother of God, says he, God’s Mother,

I’m yellow-skinned, I wail because of my burden...because of
enchantments... black magic...
The Mother of God takes nine hoes,
and digs the sick man out of the grave,
[well now, this is how...]
It made him light [a short pause] as a light feather
It made him clean [a short pause] as a clean, clear sky...
It made him pure as mother’s milk.
Up the road, down the road goes... a sick man.

The Mother of God, God’s Mother meets him.
She asks him: - Why do you wail, sick man? Why are you yellow-skinned?
Mother of God, God’s Mother,
I’m yellow from enchantments, from black magic.
The Mother of God takes nine shovels,
then digs the sick man out of the grave,
and buries the black magic into the grave.
The Mother of God goes up the road, down the road.

She meets a sick man and asks:
- Why are you yellow-skinned? Why do you wail?
Mother of God, God’s Mother,
I’m yellow, I wail [short break] because of black magic.
The Mother of God takes nine brooms,
then brushes the sick man clean with them,
then across nine mountains [short break] and nine waters drives away...
The sick man remains
clean as clean silver,
clear as a clear sky
pure as mother’s milk.8
8 On a pragmatic level, the polyfunctional plot of chants against particular sicknesses is most
often tied together by the initial formula about the ‘history’ of the disease, such as a sick man’s
explanation to the Mother of God about what it is that ails him. This plot is very frequent in Eastern
Serbia and is associated with chanting against various diseases (for example, Раденковић 1982:
No. 120, against holy fire; No. 132, against dragons; No. 137, against babice) (mythological
creatures believed to attack newly delivered women and newborns) – it is explicitly stated in the
incantation that a sick man bleached a cloth in the “water which vilas forbade” (Раденковић 1982:
No. 369, against intent). These texts often contain the motif typical for chanting against “treading
into vila’s space”, in which demons are begged to forgive a sick man for having unwittingly stepped
into their space (for ex. Раденковић 1982: No. 124, against holy fire). The Bulgarian corpus, which
contains “contemporary” records (which were collected during the last twenty or so years of the 20th
century), shows that this plot is regularly found in incantations against an urok which has resulted
from treading into a vila’s space (in the Eastern Bulgarian variant) (Tодорова-Пиргова 2003: No.
269, 270 and 271) and against подљут/ a purulent wound (when the motif of a sick person going
72
You chant like this up to three times ...up to three times... [long break]
R: And what else do you use when you chant?
I: I take a knife... and a broom... that’s all...that’s it.
R: And what do you do with the knife?
I: Move it downwards over the sick man... and the broom, then I sweep.
R: And all the time, while you talk, while you chant or....
I: Yes. With the knife, downward over the sick man, and with the broom,
like that...
R: Is that an ordinary knife?
I: An ordinary one, what else...a kitchen knife.
R: And how many times do you chant over him to make him well again?
I: Three times.
[1.3]
R: And what does the holy fire look like?
I: The person turns red and it itches, the skin itches, and when they come
to see us, my mother usually chanted, and I chant, it’s chanted with couch
grass, there you go, I didn’t pick it on Transfiguration... It’s harvested on
Transfiguration, this couch grass, then you dip the couch grass into water,
and then over the face, over the legs, over the hands, wherever it’s red, it’s
done like this, or you chant into the water and then the person puts this
water onto his skin... with this water...
Упали се житња јама, / The grain pit caught fire,

нема куј да ју угаси / there was nobody to put it out
Ту дођоше три девојке... / when three girls came...
да угасе житњу јаму... / to put the fire out...
зеленом травицом, / with green grass,
студеном водицом... / with cold water...
Стаде лако као лако перо... / it stopped, light as a light feather...
стаде чисто ка чисто сребро... / it stopped, clean as clean silver...
стаде благо ка материно млеко... / it stopped, pure as mother’s milk...
And you chant it three times... that’s all, that’s the whole incantation....
In terms of structure and motif, chanting against red wind/fire pertains to

the model of the type A14/1.3 according to the system established in Кляус 1997.
The stability of this model in the tradition of the South Slavs has been confirmed
diachronically – the first records date from the end of the 19th century – and its
productivity is evident from recent field research (without taking into account
into a garden and getting stung by a snake’s bones and an eagle’s nails (Тодорова-Пиргова 2003:
No. 396, 397, 398, 400, 401 and 403) is developed in the initial position. For a detailed analysis of
this text, see Ђорђевић 2008.
73
the recordings of the author of this paper and the Bulgarian variant published
in Тодорова-Пиргова 2003). In the Serbian and Croatian corpus this model is a
frequent element in more complex textual structures (where it is combined with
the formulae of driving away sickness etc.), whereas in the Bulgarian corpus it
tends to appears independently.
This type of model is made up of a relatively simple bi-partite plot structure.
The first part contains the motif of an object set ablaze (with an optional addition
about the impossibility of putting the fire out). The second part introduces an
actor who extinguishes the fire. The text is formulated as a narration or a dialogue.
This plot appears relatively consistently in incantations against skin
diseases such as holy fire (Раденковић 1982: No. 101), measles (Раденковић
1982: No. 467), blisters and boils (Раденковић 1982: No. 283), redness and
blisters (Стойков: 1890: 143), oral mucosa diseases (Раденковић 1982: No.
447), thrush9 (Атанасов: 1892: 144), tonsillitis (Раденковић 1982: No. 394),
eye infection (Тодорова 2003: No. 297, No. 298) and pain in the eye (Тодорова
2003: No. 321; Раденковић 1982). The motif is also found in the Bulgarian
incantations against living fire (Илчева 1891: 99). Recent records, however, also
show the model appearing in chanting against purulent wounds (Тодорова 2003:
No. 405, 406). This is quite surprising, as this is a different type of problem,
whose original cause is a mechanical, surface injury; however, its use in this case
may be explained by the fact that these wounds can be considered to be a kind of
skin-related ailment, as they do not heal and often show signs of infection. Visual
symptoms probably have played a great part in the appearance of texts of this
type in chanting against an ailment known in Serbian as krup, which Radenković
describes as being caused by overeating: “when somebody (usually a child) eats
too much and gets diarrhoea, and spots appear on its veins” (Раденковић 1982:
406).
The bi-partite model discussed above is one of the features which is
characteristic of the South Slavic tradition, whereas it is completely absent
from the East Slavic tradition, with the exception of some parallel motifs. In her
studies of East Slavic material, Agapkina (Агапкинa) registers that the topic of
purification by water is one of the dominant motifs in incantations against skin
diseases. The author also notes the important role played by fire and the motif of
burning in certain texts (Агапкина 2010: 404, 436–438).
The object of burning is noted as being:
1) A city: Запàли сѫ кòстен градѫ (Bulg.) / Bone city burst into flames
(Атанасов 1892: 144); Упали се Цариград (Serb.) / Constantinople burst into
flames (Раденковић 1982: No. 307); Запали се Цариград (Serb.) / Constantinople
burst into flames (Раденковић 1982: No. 467); Запали се бели Београд (Serb.) /
White Belgrade burst into flames (Раденковић 1982: No. 241), against eye-ache;
9 According to folk belief, the small white spots of thrush appear when a mother touches her child
with hands still white from the flour she used to knead bread.
74
Запали се Цàри-грат (Bulg.) / Constantinople burst into flames (Стойков 1890:

143);
2) A court / church / churchyard with the attribute of belonging to the tsar:
Запàлиа са цàрови сарàе (Bulg.) / The tsar’s court burst into flames (Илчева
1891: 99); Запалили се цàреви сарàеви (Bulg.) / The tsar’s courts burst into
flames (Тодорова 2003: No. 297, No. 405); Запали се царо сарай (Bulg.) /
The tsar’s court burst into flames (Тодорова 2003: No. 389); Запали се царева
църква (Bulg.) / The tsar’s church burst into flames (Тодорова 2003: No. 298,
299); Запалили се царюви двори, / и царюви порти (Bulg.) / The tsar’s courts
and the tsar’s churchyards burst into flames (Тодорова 2003: No. 321), Запалила
се сарајевска врата (Serb.) / The gates of the tsar’s court burst into flame
(Раденковић 1982: No. 447) – there is also a modified version from the vicinity
of the Svrljig municipality: Запали се царев сарајлија (Serb.) / The Tsar’s
courtier burst into flames (Раденковић 1982: No. 101);
3) An extratextual ‘reality’ (sometimes combined with the previous models):
Запали се град Совија / и бурунтија, и пашин сарај, / и пашине коњуше, и
на (Виду) гуша // The city of Sophia / and the ordinance, and the pasha’s court /
and the pasha’s stables, and (Vid’s) throat, burst into flames (Раденковић 1982:
No. 394); Запалила се (Владина) фуруна / (Vlada’s) furnace burst into flames
(Раденковић 1982: No. 283).
The mention in the field record transcripts of a grain pit, a place where
grain is stored, could be related to a symbolic indication of multitude, typical of
incantations against skin diseases.
Examples of chanting against skin diseases without the motif of burning
are interpreted as instances of a condensed plot, which is why that although they
do not fit within the given model (in Кляус 1997), they fit the paradigm in terms
of function:
,Перещтèц се сили, Фоца (името на баячката) го гàси саже зелèна
тревѝца, саже студèна водица. / The blistering is spreading, Foca (the
name of the chanter) soothes it with green plants, with cold water (against
blisters) (Стойков 1890: 143).
And I pull a leaf from a willow, one leaf, and from grass, there’s grass
near the water. You pull out three blades of that grass, those leaves, and
immerse them in the water, down that water ... and immerse them in the
water and through the mouth: – The sun goes down behind the mountain,
the mouth ache goes downstream. Extinguished by a green willow, green
grass and cold water. – And there, you let it go downstream. Then again:
– The sun goes down behind the mountain, mouth ache goes downstream.
Extinguished by a green willow, green grass and cold water. – And again.
(against mouth[ache], field record by the author, Deonica near Jagodina,
2008).
75
Todorova-Pirgova (Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: 69) interprets the motif of

burning and extinguishing a fire as a symbolic representation of real events (falling
sick and getting well). In her reading of the model, the motif of the city or church
is based on the archaic notion of the body as the ‘house of the soul’, which is
complementary to the Christian interpretation of the church as the body of Christ.
Since it is primarily a place of worship or a symbol of the centre of power in the
conceptualization of social space, representations of the church may be interpreted
as a way to build an image of a “sacral centre” (Агапкина 2010: 33–87).
In addition to the person undertaking the ritual practice (who is sometimes
named), the position of the actor who extinguishes the fire can also be filled by
“miraculous helpers” who come from an unnamed “other-worldly” space.
Ethnographic and folklore sources which provide insight into the ritual
actions that accompany the text describe a relatively simple scheme: the plants
are submerged in running water or water contained in some vessel (in one instance
this is concretized as a trough from which chicken drink water), the sick part of
the body is then touched with the plant and the magical text is uttered (or the
healer blows air into the eyes of the sick person), the plants are thrown into the
water or over the sick person’s shoulder, and the remaining water is poured out
at a place where the river is not crossed or is given to the sick person so they can
use it to repeatedly wash out the sore spot.
The spectrum of plants used in these rituals is not particularly wide. If the
kind of plant is named at all, it is most likely sand sedge (Carex arenaria), couch
grass (Elymus repens) or basil. Sometimes basil may be observed to be used in
winter, when the fresh plant is not available. This is consistent with the spectrum
of functions related with this plant (Усачёва 2008: 225–234; Карановић 2013).
Alongside grass, leaves can also be used (or if there are none, brushwood),
willow (Стойков 1890:143; field record [4]) and/or the boiled pods of broad
beans (Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: No. 389). The magical features of plants are
additionally activated by the necessity of harvesting them at a particular time or
date (Couch grass is harvested on the Feast of the Transfiguration – [3]), at a
particular place (next to the fence, where nobody treads, or next to the running
water above which the incantation is chanted), or with water that has been
‘untried’, which is activated in the text of the incantation:
Че угасимо / We will put it out
Със зеленà трèва непрепасàна, / With green grass which has not been
grazed,
Със студенà вòда ненапиена. / With cold water which has not been drunk.
(Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: No. 385)
Чим га баја, чим га обаја? / With what do you chant it?

Чим га драми, чим га удрами? / With what do you charm it?
Студеном водицом, / With cold water,
76
Из плота травицом, / With grass from by the fence

И њеном душицом. / And with its soul
На со, / Onto salt,
на леб, / Onto bread,
на траву некошену, / Onto grass which has not been scythed,
на воду непијену. / Onto water which has not been drunk.
(Раденковић 1982: No. 283)
On the other hand, the magical text itself tends to reduce the spectrum
of activated plants to the unnamed green grass. In addition to the occasional
occurrence of the willow, there is also millet in one example (Илчева 1891: 99).
It is not used in the ritual itself, but is common in chanting against skin diseases
that are manifested by tiny white blisters, which look similar to the grains of
millet. The same principle is applied when broad beans or beans are used (cf.
Плотникова 2001: 31). However, it should be noted that the ritual with millet
is consistently related to a different textual model, one that activates the parallel
motif of dispelling/spilling (the disease is dispelled like spilt grains).
The introduction of different objects and means into the text is usually
accompanied by a different object code within the ritual. This kind of procedure
is typical for more recent records, as in the following example:
Запали се царева църква, / The tsar’s church catches fire,
та тли, та гори. / it smoulders, it burns,
Отдоле идат три-девет мòми. / Three-nine girls came,
Носат три-девет търнокòпе. / Carrying three-nine pickaxes.
Носат три-девет мèтлио. / Carrying three-nine brooms,
Носат три-девет лопати. / Carrying three-nine spades.
Да изкòпат царева църква. / To dig up the tsar’s church,
Да изринат царева църква. / To plough the tsar’s church,
Да изметàт царева църква. / To sweep the tsar’s church,
Да угасят царева църква. / To put out the fire in the tsar’s church.
This form may be said to have become contaminated by other types

of chanting where the objects such as the broom and spade have the function
of ‘driving’ the demon of the disease out into the ‘wild space’ (which can be
formulated as a threat, an action currently in progress or an already realized one).
An example of a ‘transitory stage’ can be found in a Bulgarian chant against eye
infection, which involves the use of the tip of a broom and some water, both in
the ritual and in the incantation:
С търнокоп да откòпа, / With a pickaxe to dig,
с мотика да отрине, / with a hoe to plough,
с лопата да отфърли, / with a spade to throw it out,
с метла да отметè; / with a broom to sweep;
със студена водица да порòси, / with cold water to sprinkle,
77
да порòси, да угàси. – / to sprinkle, to extinguish.

The motif of extinguishing fire with grass and water appears in combination
with the motif of bread- or cake-making in one model of Bulgarian chanting
against skin disease10 (Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: No. 383, 385, 387, 388). Some
texts show clear contamination between the two types:
Запали се царо сарай. / The tsar’s court caught fire.
Никой го не можа угаси. / Nobody could extinguish it.
Само че угаси св. макя Богородица. / Only the holy Mother of God can do it,
Че умеси Богу пеши колàч / She will make a bread for God
И че дойде да угаси цàро сарай. / And will come to put out the fire.
Here, the ritual actions are parallel to those related to the previously
described mode, and the combination of green grass and cold water is registered
as stable in both models. The data obtained indicate a particularly insistent
occurrence of green grass (Now take water with a small bowl, dip some green
grass into it - it doesn’t matter which type, as long as it’s green; it can even be a
nettle (Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: No. 383). In the literature, the green colour of
plants has been interpreted as a realistic characteristic which symbolizes vitality,
productive strength, etc. (Усачёва 2008: 146). The spectrum of functions which
green plants have in traditional culture is extremely wide, in line with the different
forms of ritual practice, ranging from those related to the calendar and the cycle
of life to those linked with love and magical healing (cf. Виноградова–Усачёва
1999: 310–312).
However, the context in which the attribute green is unchangeably related to
the noun grass could also indicate the mediating function of the plants which are
marked in this way (at the level of this worldly/otherworldly) 11. In incantations,
green grass also functions as one of the attributes of a ‘good place’ to which
disease is sent, and which is often formulated as an opposite to the impure ‘here’,
the place where the chanter is:
Туј је трновито, / Here it’s thorny,
туј је глоговито, / Here it’s full of hawthorn,
туј је посрано, / Here it’s shitty,
туј је попишано [...] / Here it’s full of piss [...]
Тамо доле има лада нележана, / Down there, there’s grass nobody
has laid on,
тамо доле има трава не пашена, / down there, there’s grass no
animal has grazed on,
10 The motif of ritual bread-making could be related to the special status of the demon of the
disease, since people believe this disease is a consequence of breaking a taboo during the week
before Pentecost.
11 This relationship between green plants and the ‘other’s’ space has been remarked upon within
the context of the analysis of Russian chanting (Гультяева 2001: 100).
78
тамо доле има вода непијена, / down there, there’s water nobody has drunk,
тамо да спаваш на меки душеци, / there you’ll sleep on soft mattresses,
и да се покриваш са свилени покривачи, / and covered by silk covers,
тамо да идеш, / there you should go
овде ти није место! – / you do not belong here!
(Раденковић 1982)
Червенке, стани зелена, / Redhead, stay green,

Отиди в гора зелена, / Go to the green mountain,
Там има трева зелена, / There is green grass,
Вода студена и хубав, чист вьздух – / Cold water and beautiful clear air.
(Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: No. 543)12
In this context, grass is a place to rest and feed/graze; this indicates the
zoomorphication of the disease. The image of green grass is much rarer within
threats serving to conceptualise the space into which the disease is driven
(Раденковић 1982: No. 373). If the disease is driven into grass, such a space
is different from the one generally associated with the image of “green grass”.
This differentiation is achieved through a developed image of a ‘wild space’,
which may contain a green mountain/woods13, as opposed to a deserted, stony,
black, etc. mountain/woods. The space where the disease is supposed to go to is
decentralized, amorphous, somewhat scattered and unspecified, which makes it
similar to the space in the formulae about destroying the disease:
Са српом ћу да те исечем, / With a sickle I will cut you,
с огњем ћу да те изгорим, / With a fire I will burn you,
с водом ћу да те удавим, / With water I will drown you
па ћу те распратим, / and then I will disperse you,
по бистре воде, / over clear water
и зелене траве – / and green grass.
Urok sjedi na pragu, / Urok sits on the doorstep,

uročica pod pragom. / Uročica14under the doorstep.
Urok skoči, uročicu sprči, / Urok jumps, attacks uročica,
bjež’ uročice u zelenu travu / run away, uročica, into the green grass
a bolesnik na noge! – / and you sick man stand up on your legs!
(Filipović-Fabijanić 1968: 65)
12 Cf. also Раденковић 1982: No. 109, 286, 188 and 412; Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: No. 201, 202,
314, 410 and 543. Green meadow (Раденковић 1982: No. 121 and 128) as well as green mountain
(Раденковић 1982: No. 71; Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: No. 46, 410, 466 and 543) can be mentioned
in the same context.
13 For more about the space into which a disease can be driven see Radenković (Раденковић
1996) and Moroz (Мороз 1995: 83−85).
14 Uročica = female urok.
79
Some texts are composed as lists of bodyparts from which the disease is
to be driven out, and these mark a trajectory within which the grass is the medial
point. It is located on the border between ‘one’s own’ and the ‘other’s’:
Из мозга у кости, / From brain into bones,
Из кости у месо, / From bones into flesh,
Из меса на кожу, / From flesh into skin,
Из коже на длаку, / From skin onto hair,
Из длаке на траву, / From hair onto grass
Из траве у ону злу кућу, / From grass into that evil house,
Ђе во не буче... / Where an ox does not bellow...
Children’s folklore also confirms this relatedness of grass with the space
of the ‘other’. One of the loci of threats directed at a snail in children’s songs is
green grass, as in the following example:
Пусти, пуже, рогове / Snail, put out your horns
на бабине долове, / onto granny’s land
ако нећеш пужити / or else
ја ћу тебе убити / I’ll kill you
секиром по глави / with an axe on your head
у зеленој трави – / in the green grass.
(Станојев 1996: 659)
There is also a shorter Macedonian variant without a threat, with the

relationship established between the grass and the water:
Пушти бојчо рогове, / Snail, put out your horns
на зелена трева, / in the green grass,
на студена вода – / in the cold water.
(Мицов 1987: 593)
The relationship between green grass and black earth is activated in epic
texts. The formula savrh glave do zelene trave / from the top of the head down to
the green grass denotes a human measure - a wounded hero falls dead onto green
grass. The formula s crnom ga je zemljom sastavio, s crnom zemljom i zelenom
travom / He put him onto black earth, black earth and green grass, is a metaphor
of death (Herman 1976 I: No. 2, 6; Herman 1976 II: No. 63, Herman 1966: No. 3,
4; Караџић 1974: No. 50). In some cases the formula remains intact even when
used in relation to a wedding, in hypothetically formed structures, and these are
especially interesting:
Јал’ се јунак оженити неће, / Will the hero not get married,
веће земљом и зеленом травом – / but take to the earth and green grass
(Караџић VII: No. 19)
80
Ми ћемо се иженити амо, / We will get married here,

на Орлову на пољу зелену / on Orlovo, on the green field,
црном земљом и зеленом травом – / with black earth and green grass
(Herman I: No. 2)15
When the green grass is part of the closing formula in South Slavic
chanting, where a hypothetical image of a desirable health condition is invoked
by parallelisms, it appears only within comparisons such as sleep like a young
lamb / on green grass / on cold water (Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: No. 529).16
Incantations offer a symbolic image of realistic events in which
different phases are marked: falling sick, magical healing, and then getting
well again (Адоньева 2005: 400; Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: 68). The visual
representations activated through a magical text are more condensed than the
accompanying ritual actions. Hence the tendency to reduce all plants to green
grass is justifiable from the standpoint of ‘textual economy’. This is possible
due to the wide spectrum of meanings which green plants have in traditional
culture. It is in this sense that the symbolism of green grass can be viewed as
corresponding to the ambivalent representation of water, combining lustrative
function and that of mediation.
REFERENCES
Адоньева 2005: С. Б. Адоньева, Конвенции магико-ритуальных актов, у: Заговорный

текст. Генезис и структура, Москва: Издательство ,,Индрик”: 385–400.
Агапкина 2010: Т. А. Агапкина, Восточнославянские лечебные заговоры в
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Атанасов 1892: П. Атанасов, Баяния, врачувания и лекувания. Оть Добричко, СБНУ,
VII: 141–144.
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наук. Институ славяноведения: 308–312.
Гультяева 2001: Н. В. Гультяева, Цветовые прилагательные в русских заговорных
клише, Кодови словенских култура 6. Боје. Београд: Clio: 87–105.
Ђорђевић 2000: Т. Р. Ђорђевић, Зле очи у веровању Јужних Словена, Београд:
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Ђорђевић 2008: С. Ђорђевић, Магијски текст бајања: између вербалног табуа
и фолклоризма, у: Н. Љубинковић, С. Самарџија (ed.), Српско усмено
15 Cf. also Караџић IIб: No. 50; Herman I: No. 6; Herman II: No. 63, Herman III: No. 3,
4. An analogous image is registered in Kashubian phraseology: Оženic sq z murava – ‛to die’
(Виноградова–Усачёва 1999: 311), and the authors note the relationship between green plants
and demons (in the South Slavic context, especially vilas (cf. Поповић 2014: 26; Усачёва 2001:
148–149).
16 Cf. also Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: No. 526, 527, 528 and 529; Раденковић 1982: No. 92, 185,
190, 186, 202, 428 and 306.
81
стваралаштво, Београд: Институт за књижевност и уметност: 389–429.

Илчева 1891: М. Илчева, Баяния, врачувания и лекувания. Оть Битоля, СБНУ, VI:
98–101.
Карановић 2013: З. Карановић, О здравцу (мит, обред, магија, поезија), у: З.
Карановић и Ј. Јокић (ed.), Биље у традиционалној култури Срба, Нови Сад:
Караџић II–IVа: Сабрана дела Вука Караџића. Српске народне пјесме (Пјесме
јуначке најстарије, Београд, 1988; Пјесме јуначке средњијех времена,
Београд, 1988; Пјесме јуначке новијих времена, Београд, 1988).
Караџић II–IVб: Српске народне пјесме из необјављених рукописа Вука Стеф.
Караџића (Пјесме јуначке најстарије, Београд, 1974; Пјесме јуначке средњијех
времена, Београд, 1974; Пјесме јуначке новијих времена, Београд, 1974).
Караџић VI–IX: Српске народне пјесме, скупио их Вук Стеф. Караџић, државно
издање (Пјесме јуначке најстарије и средњијех времена, Београд, 1899; Пјесме
јуначке средњијех времена, Београд, 1900; Пјесме јуначке новијих времена о
војевању за слободу и о војевању Црногораца, Београд, 1900; Пјесме јуначке
новијих времена о војевању Црногораца и Херцеговаца, Београд, 1992).
Кляус 1997: В. Л. Кляус, Указатель сюжетов и сюжетных ситуаций заговорны
текстов восточных и южных Славян, Москва: Наследие.
Левкиевская 2006: Е. Е. Левкиевская, Прагматика мифологического текста, у:
Славянский и балканский фольклор. Москва: Издательство ,,Индрик”: 150–
213.
Мицов 1987: Т. Мицов, За некои карактеристични детски песни од Виничко, у:
Zbornik radova XXXIV Kongresa SUFJ, Tuzla: SUFJ: 589–595.
Мороз 1995: А. Б. Мороз, Звук / отсуствие звука как способ характеристики ’сего’
и ’того’ света (На примере сербохорватских заговоров), у: Голос и ритуал.
Москва: Государственный институт искусствознания: 83–85.
Плотникова 2001: А. А. Плотникова, Боб и пасуљ, у: Словенска митологија.
Енциклопедијски речник. Београд: Zapter book world: 31–32.
Поповић 2014: Д. Поповић, Растиње и биље у демонолошким предањима, у:
З. Карановић (ed.), Биље у традиционалној култури Срба, Нови Сад:
Филозофски факултет: 19−34.
Раденковић 1982: Љ. Раденковић. Народне басме и бајања. Београд: Балканолошки
институт САНУ.
Раденковић 1996а: Љ. Раденковић, Народна бајања код Јужних Словена, Београд:
Балканолошки институт САНУ.
Раденковић 1996б: Љ. Раденковић, Симболика света у народној магији Јужних
Словена, Београд: Балканолошки институт САНУ.
Раденковић 2001: Љ. Раденковић, Урок, у: Словенска митологија. Енциклопедијски
речник. Београд: Zapter book world: 551–553.
Станојев 1996: Б. Станојев, Јасеново, село у Банату, Београд: Одбор САНУ за
проучавање села – КПЗ Србије.
Стойков 1890: И. Стойков, Баяния, врачувания и лекувания. Оть Софийско, СБНУ,
III: 142–144.
Тодорова-Пиргова 2003: Ивета Тодорова-Пиргова, Баяния и магии. София:
Академични издателство ,,Проф. Марин Дринов”.
Усачёва 2001: В. В. Усачёва, Семиотика зеленого цвета в народной культуре славян,
Кодови словенских култура 6. Боје, Београд: Clio: 141–151.
Усачёва 2008: В. В. Усачёва, Магия слова и действия в народной культуре славян,
Москва: Издательство ,,Индрик”.
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*
Filipović-Fabijanić 1968: Radmila Filipović-Fabijanić, Narodna medicina istočne
Hercegovine, Glasnik Zemaljskog muzeja n.s. Etnologija, 23: 35–76.
Herman I–II – Narodne pjesme muslimana u Bosni i Hercegovini, sabrao Kosta Herman
1889–1889.
Herman III – Narodne pjesme muslimana u Bosni i Hercegovini, iz zaostavštine Koste
Hermana, Sarajevo, 1966.

83
84
FALLEN PINE ‒ ON RESEARCHING THE FUNCTIONS OF PLANTS AND HERBS ...
UDC: 821.163.41.09-14:398:[393:58

Univeristy of Niš
danijela.popovic@filfak.ni.ac.rs
FALLEN PINE ‒ ON RESEARCHING THE

FUNCTIONS OF PLANTS AND HERBS IN DIRGES
The paper explores the motif of a pine in funeral dirges. It points to the realization of
this motif in the nomination of the deceased, as well as the poetic images of the pine on
the grave or a death of a warrior. The paper analyzes the mythical-religious and magical
performances that form the basis of beliefs about life after death. The symbolism of pine
determined as an immortal, evergreen wood, reflected on the appearance and the position
of the pine in the verbal text of the funeral rites.
Key terms: the dirges, the pine, metaphor, funeral rites, folk tradition.
The reconstructions of the ancient elements of the funeral rites in Indo-

European people show that, even in the earliest stages, the process of burial was
accompanied by the suffering over the deceased (Иванов 1990: 5). A human
voice1 accompanied all phases of the ritual separation from the living community,
the transfer to the world of the dead and, in a way, the entrance to the world of
the ancestors (Буркхарт 1990: 85). As a verbal text of a funeral rite, a dirge has
retained many elements that were mirroring the traditional folk images about
death, the death of the body and the eternal existence of the soul in the afterlife. In
that sense, it managed to, with all its spheres - expression, structure, semantics, the
content and style of interpretation, be connected to the rite (sacred language of a
rite, Pentikäinen 1997: 481), to the traditional and collective influence regarding
the specific and everyday phenomenon- the death of an individual. Its constant
elements are conditioned by the viability of the rite (Лихачов 1972: 284–285),
together with the age old mythical-religious systems on the basis of which people
formed the images about death, human body and soul. The aim of the rite is to
prepare and direct the deceased to the otherworldly spaces, to protect him/her
from the effects of forces that could interrupt that journey; but also to protect the
living members of the family and community (Ван Генеп 2005: 180; Јовановић
2005: 144–150; Јовановић 2002: 73–84). The function of protecting life (and
eternal life) from death, either temporary or permanent, a dirge had too. It soothed
1 About the pragmatics of a ritual word and apotropaeic function of voice search in: Левкиевская
1999: 51–72; Раденковић 1999: 200–209.
85
the protective needs of a rite by the manner, the time of suffering, but primarily
by its form and content. By making the end of life, the deceased, the mourners,
and the world beyond, the themes here, a dirge marked the taboo concepts (
death, dying, the dead, coffin, grave, cemetery) by using the expressions which
were usually used for avoiding their immediate nomination and the nomination
determined by reality (Чистов 2005: 196–197; Седакова 1983: 204). What
served the most to this kind of procedure was the use of stylistically-linguistic
devices which had in their basis the peculiar replacement of concepts according
to certain criteria (metaphor, metonymy, allegory, euphemism). A poem managed
to keep the elements that testified about the old religious, mythological and magic
images until the times when the community, that was conducting a rite, did not
understand the multiple meanings of those elements. By emphasizing the very
system of metaphorical replacements as an archaic component that composes the
basis of the dirge poetics, K. Čistov refers to the changed relationship (the bans
were weakening through time) in the use and acceptance of such expressions
(Чистов 1997: 475).
In the structure and semantics of a dirge, according to the occasion, the
decedent occupies the most significant place. One mourns for him/her, one suffer
for him/her, one ‘’talks’’ to him. The very form of pseudo-dialogue (Буркхарт)
conditions frequent talks with the deceased. Beside the point-blank appeals by
name or the emphasis of kinship, dirges use expressions that belong to differently
coded corpuses, usually physical (eyes, lips, head), cosmic (sun), ornithomorphic
(falcon, eagle, arslan), and herbal (rose, pine, poplar and similar)2.
In the dirges of Serbian, that is, Montenegrin people, the vegetative-coded
addressing of the deceased is not characterized by diversity. A reduced number of
plants and trees are used: rose, basil, marigold, apple, pine, poplar and flowers;
as a form in which plants are collectively determined. The images about them
(apotropaic, demonic etc.) are manifested in almost all layers of funeral ritual
complex (verbal, actionable, spacious, symbolic). One of those is the belief that
the soul leaves the body of the deceased and populates a new space3, where a tree
appears as one of its hypostasis.4 Of great importance are, beside that, images about
the world tree, a tree as a mediator between the world of the alive and the world
2 By examining the built of north-Russian dirges, J.N. Ilina has segmented the nomination of
the deceased to real (name, status, kinship) and metaphoric (according to the characteristics of the
deceased in comparison with the family and according to the images that, in the traditional system,
refer to death) (Иљина 2012: 156–168).
3 According to Veselin Čajkanović’s interpretation, after the death, the soul populates the objects
of animate and inanimate nature and makes them shady (incarnated and materialized human soul
(Чајкановић 1994b: 93, 94)). A tree on a grave can be experienced as a new place of residence of a
soul of the deceased (Усачёва 2000: 269–270). What can be connected to these beliefs are the old
Indo-European images about a soul in a grove (Иванов 1990: 10–11).
4 Tree as a material accompanies all layers of funeral manifestations: a coffin where the body of
the deceased is placed; if there was not a coffin, the body was covered with planks in a grave; a
tombstone feature is, from the old ages, beside rocks, a wooden cross (Ćorović 1956: 128; Ђорђевић
Т. 1984: 125; Толстој 1995: 206); a coffin is usually made out of whitewood (coniferous trees).
86
where the souls of the deceased sojourn5, as international beliefs about a tree as a
living being.6 The phenomenon of a very stable and frequent tree in the dirge text
can be, therefore, interpreted by very complex ancient images of Slovenian and
other nations7, that are, being numerous and diverse, connected with the idea of
“alive cosmos in constant renewal” (Gerbrant–Ševalije 2010: 171, s. v. DRVO).
Beside the respectability to the deceased, what we can meet in dirges are
other examples of the metaphorical replacement man: tree. The most frequent are
those noticed in subjective- attributive sphere (Невская) which refers to body parts:
in sequences where the decedent is invited to destroy the grave and open the way
to the new world, in the invites to go back and join his/her owns, in the emphasis of
the decedent’s youth, beauty and development or in the end of a life cycle.
The examples of the transfer of attribution from a tree to a human8 can
be also found in the thematic complex of relatives- members of family. The
decedent’s parents are determined by the expression that nominates a tree that
is cut off, exists but is not alive, by which a clear symbolic of passive, static
existence of parents is reached: No one else but Ostoja/ Poor Ostoja/ And two
stumps beside chimney/ A thunder struck us (Шаулић 1929: 11).
The appearance of a pine in metaphorical changes of a man-tree type is
very frequent and semantically miscellaneous. The forms of replacement go from
monomial (oh pine) to binomial (oh green pine) and multinomial (I’m branching
pines to convocations), from a metaphor to its wider forms, to Slovenian antithesis
and allegory. As a lexeme, pine participates in voice and sound organization of
a dirge text. The repetition of a whole word is visible, or of some of its parts (
isolated, in other words, p, i, n, e) on the level of a semi verse- verse and verse-
refrain, with symmetrical repetitions at the end of a semi verse and verse; and the
anadiplosis on the level of a verse- refrain.
5 While speaking of the opposition close: far in the structure of the model of the world, Ivanov
and Toporov have noticed that in dirges, inter alia, the road appears as an embodiment of the second
opposite segment (the departure to the other world: путь- doroga). The examples that illustrate the
etiological similarities of tree and road (дерево and дорога), they find in the images of the world tree
as a road that shows earth and sky, earth and the underground empire, a unique bridge between the
worlds (Иванов–Топоров 1965: 165–168). O.Sedakova accepts this kind of interpretation and thinks
that tree concretizes the theme of a road in a rite, where a road (дорога, дерево) can be understood as
a space that leads to the otherworldly, and as the otherworld itself (Седакова 2004: 55).
6 From the old Indo-European base, there is a belief that a noumen lives inside of a tree
(Чајкановић), the essence similar to human’s, which is experienced by the carriers of tradition as
imminent to a tree- it is not transmitted to humans (Толстој). That kind of essence determines the
genre of a tree, so in the rite processes during a human life a tree is used in accordance with the
genre of a human (Толстој 1995: 333–335).
7 „Метафорический перенос наименований ‘растение’ ‘человек’ имеет глубокую корневую
систему уходящую к древним верованиям и обрядовым традициям народов“ (Колосько 2010:
69–77).
8 The vegetative coding characterizes the expressions that determine the beginning, existence
and end of life cycle: sprout, bloom, wither, rip, grow ripe: My wilted flowers!/Gorgeous whale!
(Врчевић 1986: 60). There are examples that, despite this, suggest everlasting, sacral existence
of a soul: From their wounds the flowers blossomed,/ scented, non withered (Шаулић 1965: 207).
87
The universal and international symbolic9 of this coniferous tree-

immortality, eternal life- found its place in a poem and a rite10 that followed
an individual on a road that was a gap between temporary and permanent. The
interrupted this worldly (a human) is, in a dirge, replaced by a natural material of
the otherworldly and eternal life.11
The motif of a pine in dirges is most visible in the respectability to the
decedent, as in poetic images with a motif of a tree on a grave. In the respectability
to the decedent (usually in refrains), beside the regular function seen in the
replacement of a taboo term, this motif also affects the glorification of the decedent,
his/her strength, stoutness, beauty, development, exquisiteness, position in family
and society. But it also has an influence on the level the cultural picture that suggests
the transmission to the eternal life of a soul which, separated from this worldly,
human, bodily, social, belongs to the natural, permanent comic cycle.
This ambivalence of a rite process in which, on one hand, is expressed the
need for hiding a single, concrete decedent (in order to distract the force that can
disturb the transfer), and on the other, unavoidably registers reality (the referential
function of a dirge) and celebrates the decedent by a name and deed; it is showed
in a dirge as a sufferer that addressed the deceased- using a metaphor and his/
her name : Ivo pine (Врчевић 1986: 175). By this kind of a set, what is reached
is a more direct connection of a tree and a human, and there are examples where
this duality is combined so that it cannot be determined if it is about a name or a
phytonym (it is registered as a name only thanks to the speaker): where are you,
my son Pine (Златановић 1994: 97). The process of metaphor-making is fully
reached, it is clear, by direct replacement, where the nomination is reached only
by the use of a name of a tree (oh pine), together with the epithets that are used in
metaphoric structures and suggest different meanings (green pine, I branch pines,
pine my home, brother pine etc.).
By identification of a pine and a decedent in the segment of nomination,
the wanted status of the decedent can be emphasized; according to the position
9 In literature and folklore of many world nations, pine is a very significant type of tree. It appears
as a symbol of life strength and eternal living, firmness, the change of life and death and resurrection
(Gerbran, Ševalije 2010: 81–83). In Greek and Roman mythology, it is connected to Athis and Kebel
(Срејовић–Цермановић 1989: 64, 203, s. v. АТИС, КИБЕЛА; Funk–Wagnalls 1984: 870–871). In
the tradition of Slovenian nations, pine is known of as a sacred tree, connected to the death cult and
topics on similarities of a human and a tree. In literature appears very frequently as a overgrowth
motif on the graves of the casualties (Агапкина 2012: 47–63).
10 One of the basic funeral realities, a death coffin, is made out of whitewood which, beside fir, also
includes pine tree (РСХЈ 1990: 838, s.v. ЧАМОВИНА, WHITEWOOD). Pine, as other coniferous
trees, is a tree that is usually planted at cemeteries. In rite manifestations, a very important role is
carried by incense which is, again, made out of tree sap, usually coniferous. According to some
data, pine and fir figs are put in graves, and the members of the funeral procession are sprinkled by
pine needles (Усачёва 2010: 141).
11 According to Veselin Čajkanović, pine can, in traditional images, be experienced as deity
(Чајкановић 1994a: 35). This type of a tree is carried as a symbol of deity in the process of
worshiping the Goddess Kebel (Срејовић–Цермановић 1989: 64).
88
and characteristics that a tree has. A green tree, an alive substance, on a symbolic
level – eternally alive; those are confronted to the interrupted life of a human:
Why are you dividing from the world/…/green pine! (Шаулић 1929: 153).
In the segments beyond nomination, the identification is reached according
to the real position of the decedent, where the dominant shapes suggest the
interruption, placed position, immovability: Oh those wounds overthrew you,
brother pine (Караџић 1975: 289). The process of dying and end of life is
emphasized by the countering of the images of green, eternal and dried tree:
Green pine from the forest!/ Oh pine with dried branches! (Џаковић 1954: 25).
In one of the examples shaped by Slovenian antithesis, as a first segment
of parallel construction that suggests life and the end of life, what appears is the
developed image of a blooming tree that attributes with ripeness (green ripe pine),
vitality and strength, race (rich branches branched/ rich feathers sread/golden
fruit bore). Contrary to the statement, the negation and response are perfectly
concise (It was not green pine,/ but Gligo at seaside). The transfer towards the
second segment is reached by comparison (he was proud of rice/ as a pine of its
branches/…/ ornamented with grandchildren/as a pine with its feathers), so that
the parallel finishes with a metaphor, which shapes the motif of death (Pine broke
today/ broke its branches/ rich feathers died (Врчевић 1986: 207–208).
The identification of a plant with the decedent, and its smaller parts with
the members of the family, is noticed also in a seemingly paradoxical image of
a fallen tree with the untouched branches as a symbol of the continuation of life
(Шаулић 1929: 323).
The specific position that a decedent has in comparison with the members
of the family (the protector, the head of the house) is, beside other things, seen
in the formulas that differ in the motif of a home (Невская 1990: 137) (pine my
home) or in the characters of those who suffer (mother’s pine, brother pine).
The character of a decedent is formed by the emphasis of his/her development,
physical or spiritual strength, his/her status in a society.
One of the examples of stylization of ancient images about “the connection
of evergreen trees to the death cult and resurrection” (Самарџија 2014: 16)
can be seen in the motif of a pine that grows on a grave or at the place of the
hero’s death. About the brave conduct against the enemy, sacrifice and death
testify the natural materials, tree and stone (they connect the soul to themselves).
They, together with the inaccessible terrains, make the barrier that divides the
defended and the protected space of a home from the enemies’ space and effect:
to the Turkish blood he was a butcher/…/many wanted that/numerous pines and
marbles (Врчевић 1986: 50). The place of the death, over which people usually
curse, is blessed by the growth of flowers, roses and pines- the overgrowth with a
special role in the death cult and tradition (Детелић 2013: 108, 110; Карановић
2009: 22, 43–46). As constant elements of this model of place marking of death
89
appear flowers, pine, roses and church. Out of those, rose, pine and church12 are
registered in two ways, and flowers are everywhere.
It is interesting how the motif of a curse, which is usually connected to the
place of death in many variants of Šaulić’s speakers (Шаулић 1929: 276, 288, 15),
corresponds to the punishment of falling and the growth of thorns. Contrary to the
motif of a curse is placed the motif of a blessing, the realization of which suggests
the sacredness of space where the young warriors are buried; flowers grow there,
pine, roses, a church id built. These elements obtrude the comparison to the poem
God does not owe to anyone (Караџић 1988: 24–27), where we can notice the
image of the appearance of overgrowth from the blood of the dead – thorns at the
place of the death of the sinners, immortelle and basil (herbs that usually have
positive connotation in tradition) and a church at the place of death of the good
ones. In comparison to the ballad where the presence of a church out of a body
“plays a very important manifestation role of a god’s miracle on earth” (Детелић
2013: 109), in the mentioned dirge models the church is built by people, which
includes the role of the community in the keeping of the remembrance of the
dead, the celebration of and respect to them. Although in these variants of dirges
is not emphasized that the place of death is at the same time the place of burial,
the motifs of pine, rose and dying connect the dirge to the ballad and epic poem
where the grave motif is realized (Детелић 2013: 104–111). Pine and other shady
plants (rose, apple, grape), that in epic poems, being planted beside the well,
get the ‘’seasonal renewal of sacrifice rites where it is not possible to enable the
presence of the relatives and friends’’ (Детелић 2013: 110); they, in dirges, as a
rule, sprout on their own.13 In those models with the overgrowth at the spot of the
blood spilt, the action (growing) is potential, since it is about the blessing which
in the given poetic material does not develop further and does not get objective.
But, in all examples, that potential is determined by nature (growing, grown), not
a human (in epic poems: planted, implanted). What suits more the metaphorical
nature of expressions in dirges is the immediate replacement of a human with the
overgrowth; a metaphor is the form of identification (Lešić 2010: 244). With the
magic of expression, it protects and secures the entrance: it is a pine- not a man,
it is a pine – the soul is there, and pine is there – the road is there.
In the poetical image of a decedent’s home appears a pine that sprouts on
its own: A green pine grew/ Jokice, in front of your white castle./it spread its
branches all over/ in it there are keys (Врчевић 1929: 196). Some of the elements
of this image direct to possibility of the poetic stylistic position of the decedent: a
green tree growing in height is a road that enables the passing over the barrier and
enables the renewal of life, the keys14 at the ends of the branches open new space.
12 What agrees with this poetical model are ethnographic data about the planting of pines beside
churches (Кулишић–Петровић–Пантелић, s. v. БОР, PINE).
13 Find in: Агапкина 2012: 134.
14 “the symbolic of a key is obviously in connection with its dual role of opening and closing, that
is, initiation(introduction) and discrimination (closure)” (Gerbran–Ševalije 2004: 369).
90
Beside the Christian layers (Saint Peter owns the keys of a space where the pure
souls live, find in: Mandić 1969: 372; Jöckle 1997: 358; Badurina 2006: 489), in
the shaping of this image we can notice the similarity to the old non-Slovenian
images; primarily on the level of the symbolic shift from death to life.15 About
the very archaic layers can be discussed also while taking into consideration
the formulas that emphasize the space and the positions that pine has in them
(forest, mountain, center): o my pine from three forests (Шаулић 1929: 323, 31).
Together with this, the emphasized position of a tree bring closer these images
to the storytelling about cult, sacred pine of king Milutin around whom, on a day
of celebration of resurrection, people play around and sing a song ‘’surely ritual,
where pine apostrophes” (Чајкановић 1994a: 35).
The noted place that pine occupies in a funeral ritual poem, in a frequent
motif of a pine in addressing (as in other poetic images that testify about
metaphorical replacements of a human with a tree), the localization of a pine that
in poetry (and reality) is positioned on a loftiness, its appearance in the model
of a grave beside shady plants and temples – all of this contributes to the given
hypotheses on deictic, shady, mediator nature of this tree. What needs to be added
is the fact that a dirge should celebrate the decedent, mostly emphasizing his/her
stoutness, courage, firmness and physical beauty – if a mourner should find those
features, beside everything else, in nature that surrounds him/her and which is
eternal, it is understandable why he/she singles out a tree that with its physical
characteristics suits poetical and ritual-functional attribution of a decedent.
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растений, у: С. М. Толстая (ed.), Словянский и балканский фолклор: народная
демонология. Москва: Российская академия наук, Институт славяноведения:
259–302.
Чајкановић 1994а: В. Чајкановић, Речник српских народних веровања о биљкама.
Сабрана дела из српске религије и митологије. Књ. 4. Београд. Српска
књижевна задруга, Београдски издавачко-графички завод.
Чајкановић 1994б: В. Чајкановић, Стара српска религија и митологија. Сабрана
дела из српске религије и митологије. Књ. 5. Београд. Српска књижевна
задруга, Београдски издавачко-графички завод.
Чистов 1997: К. В. Чистов, Причитанья Северного края, собранные Е. В. Барсовым,
в историй русской культуры, Причитанья Северного края, собранные Е. В.
Барсовым. Том 1. Санкт Петербург: Наука: 400–495.
Чистов 2005: К. В. Чистов, Причитания у славянских у финно-угорских народов
(некоторые итоги и проблемы), Фолклор. Текст. Традиция. Москва: ОГИ:
186–198.
Џаковић 1954: В. Џаковић, Нове црногорске тужбалице. Никшић.
Шаулић 1929: Н. Шаулић, Српске народне тужбалице. Београд: Народна мисао.
Шаулић 1965: Ј. Шаулић, Лирска народна поезија Црне Горе. Титоград: Графички
завод.
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*
Badurina 2006: A. Badurina, Petar, apostol. Leksikon ikonografije, liturgike i simbolike
zapadnog kršćanstva. Zagreb: Kršćanska sadašnjost: 488–489.
Bandić 1980: D. Bandić, Tabu u tradicionalnoj kulturi Srba. Beograd: BIGZ.
Ćorović 1956: V. Ćorović, Prilog proučavanju načina sahranjivanja i podizanja
nadgrobnih spomenika u našim krajevima u srednjem vijeku. Naše starine.
Sarajevo: Zemaljski zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture i prirodnih rijetkosti N.
R. Bosne i Hercegovine.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3ma9plMXxAEVVloNkltS2VwdE0/edit?pli=1
31. 07. 2015.
Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend (1984). San
Francisko: Harper Collins.
Gerbran–Ševalije 2004: A. Gerbran, Ž. Ševalije, Rečnik simbola. Novi Sad: Stilos.
Jöckle 1997: C. Jöckle, Encyclopedia of Saints. London: Parkgate books.
Mandić 1969: O. Mandić, Leksikon judaizma i kršćanstva. Zagreb: Matica hrvatska.
Pentikäinen 1997: J. Pentikäinen, Laments, Folklore: an encyclopedia of beliefs, customs,
tales, music and art. Ed. Thomas A. Green. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio: 481–482.
Šaulić 1967: N. Šaulić, Lirske pesme i tužbalica (iz ostavštine), Zbornik za narodni život
i običaje Južnih Slavena. 43: 181–201.
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Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti.
Translated: Milena Milanović
94
THE LINGUISTIC PICTURE OF THE WORLD ...
UDC: 811.163.41’373.231:[811.163.41’373.22:58
Gordana R. Štasni
gordanastasni@yahoo.com
THE LINGUISTIC PICTURE OF THE WORLD IN THE

LEXICON OF SERBIAN FLORAL ANTHROPONYMS*
The basic subject of this study is the identification of key value concepts that are embedded
in personal names which are validated by the Serbian lexicon of anthroponyms. From
the total onomasticon only those names that are motivated by the names of the plants
were analyzed on the basis of which it is possible to reconstruct a part of the Serbian
linguistic picture of the world. In that respect, a symbolic aspect of conceptual phytonyms
is taken into account, as well as the components of meaning involved in the process
of anthropomization. Plant based anthoroponyms for this study were taken from the
dictionaries Лична имена код Срба (Грковић 1977) and Српски именослов (Лазаревић
2001).
Key terms: linguistic picture of the world, axiological parameters, phytonyms,
anthroponyms, Serbian language.
1. The Introduction
A lexicon of names is a good source for identifying elements of the
linguistic picture of a particular culture, primarily because it is “in the choice
of personal names that attitudes, beliefs, and general viewpoints of godparents
or parents, or some of each, can be identified and that they are the spiritual
character of the people as a whole, witnessed by the language of yesterday and
today, and for the Serbian people, a man and his character is identified with his
name” (Лазаревић 2001: 23–25). According to J. Bartmiński (2011: 39), the
term linguistic picture of the world has a semantic character that connects all
levels of language, manifested mostly on a lexical level. A linguistic picture is
created on the basis of values that keepers and users of a language embrace and
therefore the stereotypical representations of its’ components are common. One
of the key concepts in this study is the value, determined as the link between
a language and the culture. In this study, the basic issue is devoted to how the
culture or the value system, are expressed in a single layer of onomasticon, with
the intention to emphasize that which is important, preferable or appealing in the
* The study was created in the framework of the Standard Serbian language: syntactic, semantic
and pragmatic Research (178004), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological
Development of Republic of Serbia.
95
Gordana R. Štasni
Serbian culture is reflected in personal names. The personal names motivated

by the names of plants, besides being numerous, represent a very old layer of
Serbian onomasticon. So the cultural heritage is preserved and transmitted, which
originates in Slovenian mythology, folk beliefs and traditions, customs and the
cult of plants.1
Beliefs about trees and plants belong to the widest cultural complex. Lj.
Radenković (1996) considered that the most general ideas about the plants, which
determined their role in the folk magic, and beyond – in popular culture, can be
expressed as follows: they are the epitome of stability and change, as well as the
place of connection and the separation of human and inhuman world. Of all the
parts of nature plants are understood as the closest link between man on the one
hand and the deities or demons, on the other hand.
2. Axiological parameters in Serbian lexicon of “floral”

anthroponyms
In addition of the more generic plant based anthroponyms- биљка
(Eng. plant) (Биљан, Биљач, Биљана, Биљка), цвет (Eng. flower) (Цветан,
Цветашин, Цветимир, Цветислав, Цветиша, Цветко, Цветкоје, Цветоје,
Цветоња, Цветош; Цвета, Цветана, Цветанка, Цветна) and латица (Eng.
petal) (Латица) to the Serbian lexicon of anthroponyms, the names of certain
flowers have a conceptual function, which means that most representatives of
our culture, consider a certain plant and its’ flower special in some way. The
basic concept of ‘pretty’, which is present in the names motivated by the lexemes
flower, represents the basic value in the whole paradigm of personal names which
are motivated by the names of individual flowering plants. In addition to this
concept, the desire that he / she who bears a personal name of that type to be
healthy, young-looking, fresh, happy, etc. is added as well. The transformation
model of anthroponyms from “floral” lexicon is based on the comparative formula
that is close to the blessing: X (personal name) → let it be as (characteristic of X)
as X (e.g. Ружа (Eng. Rose) → let it be as beautiful as a rose). A personal name
is connected to the motivational base through a metaphorically associated link.2
Magical and ritualistic, religious and ceremonial, emotional and poetic elements
are typical of conceptual names in the “floral” lexicon of anthroponyms.
2.1. Magical and ritualistic aspect, i.e. the connection with the world
beyond, is expressed in flower based personal names motivated by the herbs
1 According to S. Samardžija, “the cult of trees and plants survived in several ways: in the
agrarian rituals and rites of passage, beliefs, magic and folk medicine. And sets of meanings, from
topographical and female personal names to the formulas and phrases based on symbols from the
plant world were expanded and complememted” (Самарџија 2013: 55).
2 The research on metaphorical transmission of nominalization by model plant → man in the
Russian language on the dialect material (Е. В. Колосько 2009), as well as the research of the
Serbian standard linguistic structure (Штасни 2013), show that one’s appearance, character, ability
and behavior are characterized through the use of metaphors of this type.
96
and flowers used as instruments in carrying out pre-Christian ritual and magic
acts, divination, mostly for love, and the witchcraft which aim to ensure good
health. So, ружа (Eng. rose), the flower of love (Чајкановић 1994/4: 179) is
represented in names Ружа, Ружица. Selenium also occurs as a motivator for the
name Selena. It is an “herb of love” that girls and young women gladly cultivate
in gardens (Софрић 1990: 199). “Selenium has a role in love divination. On the
eve of St. George, a small bunch is picked and planted in the ground. There will
be a wedding and the guests will come from the direction flowers were facing
when they bent. It also possesses apotropaic power” (Чајкановић 1994/4: 183).
At the root of the names Невен and Невена the name of the flower невен3 (Еng.
marigold) is present, which also has a significant role in love magic (Чајкановић
1994/4: 154). Special importance is given то plants like рузмарин (Eng. rosemary)
and смиље (Eng. immortelle) used in wedding ceremonies. Immortelle has a
protective power, and bride wears a hat made from it for 40 days. Immortelle
is fairy flowers and a safeguard from witches (Чајкановић 1994/4: 188). It is a
favorite among the Serbian people and is present in both male and female names:
Смиљ, Смиљан, Смиљко; Смиља, Смиљана, Смиљка. M. Stefanović came to
the conclusion, based on the lyrics of a folk song from Leskovac area, in which
the name appears in its’ diminutive form Смиљанчић, that immortelle “has the
characteristics of expression of innocence of the person who bears it, youth who
has not yet stepped into the life of maturity” (Стефановић 2014: 65). Rosemary
motivated names like Рузмарин and Рузмаринка.4 This herb is primarily used at
weddings, and as such is often mentioned in wedding songs (Софрић 1990: 195).
Rosemary is also “a safeguard against demons and evil spirits (probably due to
its’ strong scent). However, it considered that it should not be planted or kept in
or around the house” (Чајкановић 1994/4: 181), so it can be safely assumed that
its’ protective properties are transferred as a basic concept to a personal name.
Since pagan era many plants in the role of motivators of personal names
had also been attributed to the protective power against supernatural phenomena
and beings. It is believed that одољен (Engl.valerian) (in the name of Oдољен)
can ward off evil spirits and protect against witches (Чајкановић 1994/4: 155).
And Sofrić states valerian as a very strong apotropaic charm: “Every witch resists
herbs, except for the ox-eye daisy and the valerian” (Софрић 1990: 171). And
каћун (Engl.the green-winged orchid), which apotropaic power is attributed to,
appears as a motivator in the names Каћуна, Каћунка. According to Čajkanović:
“the root of the green-winged orchid is worn under the belt to keep the children
from dying” (Чајкановић 1994/4: 112).
3 The name of the herb невен is motivated by the proto-Slavic and all-Slavic verb венути (Еng.
to wither): nèven m. (Vuk), “plant Calendula officinalis”= bulg. névjan; male and female personal
name Невен, Невенка (Skok 1973: 576).
4 The origin of the word rosemary can be interpreted in two ways: from the Greek language
(rhops – shrub and myrinoss - fragrant) or Latin (ros –a dew drop and marinus- the sea). Skok states
that rosemary originates “from ital. rosmarino<lat. phrase ros marinus “sea dew” (Skok 1973: 175).
97
Gordana R. Štasni
2.2. In Christian period, the old cult of nature which the cult of plants
and trees belongs to was kept, but new cults related to the Virgin Mary and the
saints were created as well. Flowering plants were used in cult shops as various
articles.5
In the Serbian “floral” lexicon of anthroponyms, there are plant-motivators
that are both related to the Christian and pagan, pre-Christian cult, which is a
common feature of most plants. Ђурђевак (Eng. lily of the valley) is considered
to be the symbol of the light of the old supreme deity Vid (Софрић 1990: 96-
97), and in Christianity is associated with celebrating the awakening of nature
on St. George’s Day (Жикић 1998: 60). Čajkanović (1994/4: 83) speaks only
about the healing properties of this plant. However, the motivation behind the
anthropomorphization of ђурђевак or ђурђица (Eng. lily of the valley) into
Ђурђевка or Ђурђица is likely derived from the physical properties of the flower.
In Serbian culture, босиљак6 (Eng. basil) particularly stands out because
it has an especially important role in magic, religion and the cult of the dead as
well as in the family cult, medicine and poetry of the Serbian people (Чајкановић
1994/4: 36). Names Босиљ, Босиљко, Босиок; Босиљка, Босиока were
transferred to the present time preserving the primal human need for the name
as an added protection from evil forces and enabling good health and longevity.
According to J. Pančić, “This plant is, apart from many others, which are of better
growth, prettier colours and nicer smells, dearest to our nation. What is the cause
of this as basil follows Serbs through all the important situations in life, from
birth, where the basil in consecrated water is put next to the groom’s pillow, to the
death, where his sister’s or a bereaved kin’s hand a bunch of basils on the grave
plants” (Панчић 1998: 251). It is believed that basil has the power to ward off evil
spirits, but its’ role in cults dedicated to God and the Virgin Mary is even more
important (Бандић 1991: 58). In his description of basil, Čajkanović emphasizes
its’ protective effect. “As a strong apotropaic charm, basil is indispensable in
different lustration processes, which are performed using the incense of basil or
through drinking water that basil has been put in, or swimming in such water, or
being sprayed on with it [...] as an apotropaic charm basil has a significant role in
theurgic operations of offerings and praying” (Чајкановић 1994/4: 39).
Љиљан (Eng. lily) (also known as љер, крин, сусана),7 which symbolizes
5 “The plant cult, in the old days, largely belonged to women. While they were excluded from
some of the other cults or had a limited role […], they, by default, had the say in the cult of trees
and plants. One of the most important things in this area is picking medicinal and magical plants”
(Чајкановић 1994/5: 177).
6 According to Skok, the term босиљак is related to “ the adjective bosilski = bosilj = as it ends
in -je (like smilje, kovilje), bosujen (17 v. slov. Bosuje), from gr. βασιλικόν adjective of βασιλεύς
“king” (Skok 1971: 78).
7 Skok lists Latin lilium as the origin of the name of the lily, “a learned borrowing” lilia, and
a more commonly known version with љ (Skok 1972 / II 302). The flower is also known as a
Greek borrowing љер (λειριόν) which motivated the personal name Љерка. The Balkan borrowing
крин (κρίνον), as another name for the same flower, has the same motivational function in the
development of personal names Кринка, Крина. “And in the old Slavic language крин and
98
purity – both physical and spiritual, is especially connected with the cult of
the Virgin Mary.8 The lily would preserve its’ distinctive symbolic role in the
Christian tradition, where it was considered to be “a paradise plant, a flower of
martyrdom and chastity” (Поповић 2008: 70), and as an integral part of the cult
of the Virgin Mary, it is also known among Serbs as the Virgin flowers (Караџић
1986/I: 73). As a floral motif it is represented in both literature and painting as
well as in various forms of applied arts (making reliquaries, coats of arms, regalia,
etc. (Драгин 2014: 20). It is used in personal names Љиљан; Љиљана; Љерка,
Кринка, Крина; Сузана as the primary concept of beauty and complete purity.
The name of the plant божур (Eng. peony), as a motivational function
in Serbian onomasticon, occurs in the names Божур, Божурин; Божурика,
Божура, Божурка. Skok states that “the word божур proves that God (Serb.
Бог) was, through animistic means, incorporated into botanical terminology
too” (Skok 1971: 180). Чајкановић (1994/4: 33) pointed out to the peony’s
supernatural power (the folk etymology of its’ name associated with the noun
“God” could certainly have contributed to that characteristic). In the personal
names motivated by the peony, concepts of beauty, health, strength, and courage,
were united, which stems from the traditional histories of persistent struggle for
faith and honour – red Kosovar peony, the symbol of the suffering of the Serbian
people. Čajkanović stated the belief that “peonies sprung up from the blood of
the heroes of the Battle of Kosovo” (Чајкановић 1994/5: 172). According to the
legend, the peony that grew in Kosovo was white, and after the Battle of Kosovo
in 1389, at Gazimestan, red peonies sprung up instead of white ones. It is believed
that the red colour came from the earth soaked with the blood of the heroes of
Kosovo and they as such have spread throughout Serbia (Софрић 1990: 15).
2.3. Emotional and poetic components of the image of the world are
embedded in the names that were inspired by the maiden flowers. So, the name of
the plant ковиље, represented in the names Ковиљко and Ковиљка; the name of
the plant of oriental origin шебој (Eng. wallflower) with the meaning of ‘the scent
of night’ (Грковић 1977: 324) is a motivator for a very rarely used name Шебојe;
just like the name of the flowering plant georgina or dahlia was anthropomorphed
into Georgina and Dahlia, and споменак (Eng. forget-me-nots), which is at the
root of the names Споменко, Споменка.9
Some names function as exponents of the semantic content with the
components “amiable, endearing”– Кадифа/ Кадива, Кадивка10, Љубичица,
љиљан are synonymous, although in the works of medieval Serbian literature the word крин was
consistently used (Половина 2014: 53). The Hebrew word for this flower šošannâh (šošân, šušân)
turns into the female personal name Сузана (Nosić 2009: 84).
8 Given the importance of spices in worship, the medieval Serbian literature emphasized the
fragrant properties (clear and fragrant lily) and not the visual properties of the lily (Половина 2014:
58).
9 The name Споменка can also be linked to the word spomen (Еng. to remember), as in the words
memento, memorial, remembrance (Грковић 1977: 308).
10 Čajkanović states that “in eastern Serbia, before the first plowing of fields, oxen get adorned
99
Gordana R. Štasni
Мирта, Перуника11. The desire that a person is always naturally beautiful is

contained in many “floral” anthroponyms whose motivators are mainly plants
of oriental origin: јасмин (Eng. jasmine) → Јасмин, Јасминко; Јасмина,
Јасминка; јоргован (Eng. lilac) → Јоргован и Јоргованка; зумбул (Eng.
hyacinth) → Зумбула и Зумбулка; кадифа, лала (Eng. tulip) → Лала.
In the Serbian lexicon of “floral” anthroponyms there is a personal
name Каранфил, which is motivated by a flowering plant of the same name.12
According to Čajkanović, каранфил (Eng. carnation) is “used in the domestic
cult as an apotropaic charm, and even then it is usually alongside basil [...] in the
relationship between a husband and a wife carnation is used in spells in order to
preserve the love and peace. There is an application of it in folk medicine as well”
(Чајкановић 1994/4: 111).
Names motivated by the Greek word for rose (τριαντάφυλλον) трандафил
→ Трандафил, Трандафиљ; Трандафила also belong to the onomastic paradigm.
When it comes to anthroponyms motivated by the name of a flowering
plant which is ambivalent in nature- both the poison and the cure, the positive
principle is embedded into the concept of the anthroponym like “beauty” and
“life force” for peony, pheasant’s eye13, lily of the valley.
3. Axiological parameters in Serbian lexicon of “fruity”
anthroponyms
In the Serbian lexicon of anthroponyms, “fruity” female names, although
not numerous, are very popular. They date back to ancient times, however, only a
few are gladly given to girls. They are, by origin, mostly proto-Slavic or all-Slavic
names for trees and their fruit: вишња (Eng. sour cherry) → Вишња, Вишњица;
јабука (Eng. apple) → Јабука; купина (Eng. blackberry) → Купина, Купинка;
јагода (Eng. strawberry) → Јагода, Јагодинка; малина (Eng. raspberry) →
Малина, Малинка; трешња (Eng. cherry) → Трешња.14 If it’s a word of foreign
origin, as it’s the case with дуња15 (Eng. the quince) (Дуња, Дуњка), then it is a
with tagetes and then move on to work. Also, basil and tagetes are sown with the seeds. In the area
of the town of Niš, basil and tagetes are put next to the deceased” (1994/4: 109).
11 Skok explains that перуника (Еng. iris) is a derivative from the word Perun (Перун), who was
the supreme Slovenian deity, and the suffix – ика (1971: 180). Stevanović said that the origin of the
name iris is unclear and that we do not know what is at the stem of the derived word (Стевановић
1964: 508). Skok, however, gives a different explanation. While explaining the word перо (Еng.
feather), Skok quotes Maretić and his opinion that iris was derived from the word feather, because
the plant has got large, feather-like leaves (Skok 1972: 642).
12 M. Grković gives the following etymological connection concerning the motivation behind
male and female personal names: tur. karanfil< arab. quaranfil< gr. καρυόφυλλον (Грковић 1977:
110).
13 Pheasant’s eye is just another name for the green-winged orchid (Чајкановић 1994/4:
112).
14 R. Dragićević lists lexemes of proto-Slavic origin from the thematic group of plants, among
which there are: apple, strawberry, blackberry, grapes, cherry (Драгићевић 2014: 67).
15 We find different information about the origin of the word quince in various references. Skok
states that the word quince came from the Latin word cydonia (1971: 406), Čajkanović (Чајкановић)
100
word known to all Slavic languages. Male names motivated by the name of fruit
are very rare and old and occur in pairs with female names: лоза (Eng. vine)
→ Лозо/Лоза, Лозан; Лозана, Лозанка, Лозинка, Лозица; we can also add
names motivated by the word as well: грозд (Eng. grapes) → Гроздан, Гроздоје,
Гроздољуб; Грозда, Гроздана, Грозданка, Грозданија.
The general semantic formula by which a dominant concept contained in
the personal names which are motivated by the names of fruit is very similar to
the blessing with a comparative component: X (personal name) → let it be as
(characteristic of X) as X (e.g. Трешња (Eng. Cherry) → let it be as beautiful /
cute as the cherry). Between the semantic database and the names are metaphorical
associative links can be established. The names motivated by the names of fruit
reveal significant components built in the language picture of the world. These
are typical female names, mostly without equivalent male forms. Therefore,
the values that are traditionally considered as favored attributes and virtues for
women are imprinted in them. On the first place, aesthetic characteristics stand
out as most prominent – beauty, especially health, especially for names that are
motivated by the cherry, the blackberry, the strawberry, the raspberry. Cherry
trees are especially dear to us because of their lush looks in the time of blooming
of flowers and for their sweet red fruit. “Cherry has some religious significance,
both in the good and the bad sense [...] and it is applicable in spells and divination”
(Чајкановић 1994/4: 199). “By giving this name to their daughters, our ancestors
wanted to improve their fortune so that they are always beautiful, fertile and
wise” (Жикић 1998: 164).
Blackberry has an ambivalent symbolism and various beliefs are
bound to it. It is mentioned as the seat of female deities and demons, and in
the dualistic cosmogony, the blackberry is the devil’s counterpart of grapes,
according to Čajkanović (Чајкановић 1994/4: 131). “The blackberry is linked
to the cult of fertility, so it’s used in the rites of passage rituals, rituals related
to season transitions, for livestock fertility and general wellbeing of the people”
(Карановић 2014: 36). Anthropomorphed names of the fruit јагода (Eng.
strawberry) (Јагода), of proto-Slavic origin (Skok 1971: 747),16 and the female
name Малина, of all-Slavic word for the fruit of the same name (Skok 1972: 363),
have an important place in Serbian lexicon of athroponyms. Strawberry and its’
leaves are used for love spells in rituals, according to Čajkanović (Чајкановић
1994/4: 103).17 Luck in love, as the basic life and existential principle also stands
suggests Greek as the origin of the word (1994/4: 72).

16 Skok, along the stymological data, states that the strawberry “as a metaphor plays a role in
female personal names. Hence, pet names like Јага, Јагица; sheep name (Bruvno) and јагодарица
“bird sylvia curruca“. In the toponyms: Јагодње, Јагодњак, from adjectives ending in -ъn. So, the
names f lagodna (17th c., foreign travelers and Mont. Serb. 571), in Јагодна, today only Јагодина
(Serbia) with inserted, presumably due to the Turkish pronunciation, consonant groups (Skok 1971:
474).
17 From strawberries with two or four leaves a small garland is made up, and the girl who gets
spotted through it by a guy, will fall in love with him (Чајкановић 1994/4: 103).
101
Gordana R. Štasni
out as a value in the symbolism of “fruity” names with the basis вишња, дуња,
јабука. Вишња has an important role in witchcraft and divination, especially for
love (Чајкановић 1994/4: 58). Дуња (Eng. quince), Čajkanović notes, that it has
the same importance in beliefs as an apple „As with the Greeks, its’ importance is
erotic, and therefore the use of it in the love witchcraft” (Чајкановић 1994/4: 72)
The apple has an important place in our culture and tradition. It is very
often brought as a gift, or an offer, or a proof of love and friendship. It may
also have something to do with the underworld and the afterlife, in that case it
is a shadowy tree, because it is planted on cemeteries. Čajkanović states that
the apple has “an extraordinarily large role in the relationship between the man
and a woman, in marriage proposals and weddings. Many wedding customs and
traditions that use the apple rely on it being the symbol of fertility” (Чајкановић
1994/4: 95). It is used in incantations and as a medicine.
Ambivalence also occurs as a peripheral feature of the symbolic content of
the motivator fruit, and then the person’s name will be embedded with a positive
life principle (apple – the symbol of love, health, fertility).
4. Axiological parameters in the names
motivated by the names of trees
Although wood has a different symbolism from culture to culture, “the
general symbolism of wood persists: wood hides superhuman wisdom and
knowledge” (Chevalier–Gheerbrant 1987: 130). The cult of the tree has a special
place in the folk culture of Serbia. Čajkanović states that the “the cult of the tree
and plants is the only one from old cults with which the Church, especially our
Orthodox Church quickly and unconditionally settled, so today it has particular
its place and symbolism” (Чајкановић 1994/5: 169). The tree has, among
Serbs, been the subject of many different beliefs and traditions; many traditions
involving it have been practised and carried on. Animistic view of the world
manifested through the symbolism of trees. “The tree poses as an object that
has a soul or as an object in which a soul is inhabited” (Бандић 1991: 52). Such
animistic understanding of the entity that symbolizes people [-] represents a good
semantic basis for the metaphorical transfer of its’ name to people.
Male and female бреза (Eng. birch) → Брезак; Бреза

personal names дрен (Eng. dogwood) → Дренко, Дреновица; Дрена,
motivated by trees Дренка
дуб (Eng. oak) →Дубац, Дубко, Дубрава, Дубравко;
Дуба, Дубица, Дубна
јаблан (Eng. poplar) → Јаблан; Јаблана, Јабланка
јавор (Eng. maple) → Јавор, Јаворко; Јаворика,
Јаворка
јасен (Eng. ash tree) →Јасен; Јасенка
102
The names of trees of Slavic origin generally have the motivational

function in the derivation of personal names. The beliefs and traditions in which a
particular tree has a significant role represent an important feature of our national
culture, and their symbolic components are transferred to a personal name too, as
well as the characteristics arising from the physical properties of the tree itself. So,
the desire that a person who bears a tree motivated personal name to be beautiful,
long-lasting, strong etc. just like the tree that motivated it, is imprinted in it. As
with the previous groups of anthroponyms, this group’s semantic content can be
generalized with the comparative component which is also similar blessing: X
(personal name) → let it be as (characteristic of X) as X (e.g. Јаблан → let it
be as high as poplar). The personal names motivated by trees are based on the
values that are based on the concepts of physical (especially stature) and spiritual
beauty. Here the importance of birch can be highlighted, which is identified by
its’ beautiful white bark and messy treetop. In the tradition and beliefs of Serbs,
the birch has a very important place. Protective power against witches can be
attributed to it (Чајкановић 1994/4: 44). “This gentle and fragile tree symbolizes
physical and spiritual beauty. The birch is a maiden’s tree, and therefore the saying
that a girl is lean as a birch or gentle as one” (Žikić 1998: 23). Other motivators
include јаблан (Eng. poplar), in whose protective powers people believe in and a
role in love symbolism (Чајкановић 1994/4: 92); јасен (Eng. ash tree), the tree
that is strongly respected. It possesses a serious sanative power. It is believed,
that it is a shadowy tree too, and as such belongs to fairies, “who like to sit on
its’ branches because the devils cannot climb it” (Чајкановић 1994/4: 103). Pine,
elm and fir possess such characteristics too.
In names with the dominant concepts of “strength” and “health”, дрен
(Eng. dogwood) has the most important role as the symbol of health, strength
of spirit, resilience and longevity (Жикић 1998: 51). Čajkanović (Чајкановић
1994/4: 78) writes that dogwood has outstanding saving powers and it is a very
popular apotropaic charm against werewolves, witches and evil demons in
general. In addition to dogwood, maple and oak motivate similar symbolic values.
“The people took the name of this tree [maple] for personal names because it is
highlighted by the beauty of its’ tree, its’ treetop and the quality of its’ structure”
(Жикић 1998: 73). According to Čajkanović’s records (Чајкановић 1994/4: 101),
the maple has some connection with the cult of the dead and the cult of ancestors,
and is attributed great protective power against spells and it is also good for their
removal. The maple easily succumbed to the process of anthroponymization. “In
folk beliefs, some zoological elements are attributed to most trees, to the maple-
none, only man is tied to it, as a minstrel or a sick man. Maple, after all, behaves
like a man: it is born, it lives, in its’ lifetime it experiences joy and sorrow, and
after a long and emotionally rich life it dies” (Стефановић 2013: 92).
In Serbian culture, a special place belongs to дуб or храст (Eng. the
103
Gordana R. Štasni
oak). Čajkanović notes that our people have great respect for the oak, and many
other ancient specimens were considered deities and enjoyed a cult following
(Чајкановић 1994/4: 206). Old Slavic people thought it was the tree of deities
like Perun, Zeus’s and Jupiter’s double, the Thunderer (Фрејзер 1992: 214).
Records show that the oak had a function of a cult place in pre-Christian and
Christian periods. According to some beliefs, the oak is a demonic tree, because
wyrms live in it and that is why it is constantly hit by lightning. Pre-Christian
beliefs are manifested in the cult of the dead through the shadowy trees – maple,
ash, fir.18 Principles of light and the principles of darkness coexist in certain trees
(e.g., the oak, which is a divine and a demonic tree).
Дафина (Eng. silverberry) is the only tree whose name is of non-Slavic
origin represented in the Serbian lexicon of anthroponyms. Дафина is a girl’s
name without the male equivalent and includes the concept of “physical beauty”
and “eternal youth” as the dominant female principles.
5. The Conclusion
The names of flowering plants, fruit and trees have the name motivating role
in the Serbian lexicon of anthroponyms. Special axiological parameters that reveal
the nature of our mentality are reflected in anthroponymic paradigms and make the
elements of linguistic picture of the world that is typical of Serbian culture.
5.1. The “floral” lexicon of anthroponyms distinguishes three layers. The
first one is magic- where the personal name has a protective role against evil
forces, witches and bad fairies, just like the plant that motivated it is used in
magic rituals. A special place, then, belongs to the ceremonial plants, especially
those in the wedding celebrations (immortelle, rosemary), as their symbolic
representations expand the symbols of joy, happiness, fertility (rosemary,
carnation, common poppy, lovage), which are the values that make important
parameters of Serbian linguistic picture of the world. Motivator plants that play
an important role in Christian worship convey the concept of beauty and purity
to personal names- physical and spiritual, and have protective properties (lily,
basil). In the third, poetic layer, the power of love and highly regarded traits like:
beauty, tenderness, heartiness, youthful appearance and longevity are visible.
5.2. Personal names are significantly less motivated by the names of fruit.
One specific feature of this group is that apart from the personal names that have
lexemes vine and grapes in them, others are female only personal names which
some universal values are attributed to. The symbolism that is usually associated
18 “The people primarily considered the trees which stood out for their looks, size and position
as shadowy trees. However, in the eyes of the common people such a tree was not only the seat of a
soul, but also a place around which supernatural beings gather around. It was believed that mainly
fairies resided in their vicinity, and consequently, they were called fairy or sprite trees. Those trees
just like the shadowy ones were considered taboos. Many prohibitions surrounded those trees”
(Бандић 1991: 53). Čajkanović (Чајкановић 1994/4: 106) states that “due to its’ immense size,
longevity and beauty, as evidenced by the attributes “tall, lean, green, thin, thin-topped” and “thin,
and proud”, it is not surprising that religious reverence was related to fir.”
104
with fruit (both fruit and plant) whose names motivated female personal names
emphasizes values typical, and even desirable for women: beauty, fertility, vigor.
5.3. The trees, whose names found their way into the Serbian onomasticon
have a very important role in popular belief, and some in Christian rites. The
symbolic components, as well as the characteristics arising from the physical
properties of motivator trees are transferred to the personal name. So, the values
based on the concepts of: physical (especially stature) and spiritual beauty, strength
and health, longevity, toughness are embedded in the personal names. Given that
these names usually appear in pairs, the values that are embedded in the name are
universal and equally desirable for a male or female child. The female principle
is more prominent in the trees with blossoms of lavish beauty, while emphasizing
the beauty (external and internal) as the dominant characteristic.
5.4. The personal names that derived from the names of the plants that
have apotropaic properties are given to children to protect them from evil fairies,
witches, spells etc.
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Translated by: Dušan Lisica
106
THE PETRARCHIST HERBARIUM A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY...
UDC: 821.163.4.09-14”15”
Univerity of Belgrade
petakovics@yahoo.com
THE PETRARCHIST HERBARIUM

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF DUBROVNIK
RENAISSANCE POETRY
This paper analyzes the function “plant motives” in the early Dubrovnik Petrarchism
using the paradigmatic examples of poems in Nikša Ranjina’s Miscellany. The poetic
layers of Renaissance poetry are indicated by examining stylization models and
interpreting symbolic potential of “Petrarchan herbarium” elements. It is confirmed that
they appear as segments of striking poetic images, but also as artistic interpretations of
certain philosophical and aesthetic conceptions underlying the Renaissance poetry.
Key terms: Petrarchism, Dubrovnik literature, Nikša Ranjina’s Miscellany, floral motifs,
herbarium.
Nikša Ranjina’s Miscellany, in which the young nobleman Nikša Ranjina

(1494-1582) began writing down selected verses of Dubrovnik poets, starting
from 1507, is one of the oldest manuscripts of Renaissance poetry of Dubrovnik1.
It includes more than eight hundred poems, mainly with love themes and written
in double-rhymed twelve meter, whose authors are Šiško Menčetić, Džore
Držić, Marin Krističević, Mato Hispani, and it is assumed – a few more, for
now, unidentified poets. The Miscellany has great significance for literary history
because it represents the foundation for the study Renaissance poetry, but also
for exploring the internal characteristics of Petrarchan lyrics, which dominated
the literary currents of the early literature of Dubrovnik. Poems collected in the
Miscellany represent a paradigm of the first wave of Dubrovnik Petrarchism.
One of its layers is a specific stylization of “plant motifs”, whose illumination
and systematization can establish the outlines of “Petrarchan Herbarium” and
contribute to the study of poetic and stylistic features of Petrarchan poetry.
Herbs are highly represented in the Miscellany poems, and language-
stylistic models within which they occur are characterized by solid formulation.
1 The original manuscript was destroyed during World War II, but it was previously published
twice: Poems of Šiško Menčetić Vlahović and Gjore Držić, collected by Vatroslav Jagić, SPH
II, JAZU, Zagreb, 1870; Poems of Šisko Menčetić Vlahović and Gjore Držić, and other poems
of Ranina’s Miscellany, ed. M. Rešetar, SPH, II, Zagreb, 1937. Note: All our quotes are given
according to Rešetar’s edition. In addition to these verses, we give numbers of poems from where
they are taken.
107
The high frequency of plants as poetic elements is illustrated by its presence in

nearly one third of the Miscellany poems. The concept of herbs mainly includes
flowers,2 that usually appear in general form („flower“, „floret“, „bloom“ etc.)
or more concretized – „rose“ and „giglio“3 (lily),4 and in few cases as „viola“,
„wormwood“ and „olive“.5 The attribute elements in syntagmatic compounds
with general or specific name of flowers are mostly stereotypical “pearly”,
“spruce”, “frisky”, “chosen”, “pale”, etc., and sometimes hypertrophic expression
is achieved by doubling attribute elements within the (semi)verse parallelism (eg.
“pribijela ružice, moj džilju gizdavi”). Such fixed topos appear in several forms
of poetry. The limited fund of Petrarchan herbarium is multiply conditioned. The
strict metrical form of the poetry – organized, as a rule, in double-rhymed twelve
meter - influenced the narrowing of lexical items and the range of elements that
could “obey” uniform model of rhyming (Бојовић 2014: 84–85). In addition,
poetic traditions, based in specific cultural milieu of Dubrovnik (Бојовић 2014:
73), under the strong influence of the Italian artistic and domestic folk poetry - has
contributed to the hardening of certain forms of stylization (Бојовић 2010: 12–
22). The formulation of floral syntagmas probably originated from dependence of
Dubrovnik Petrarchists to folk poetry phon, since model character of flower topos
in Petrarchist poetry largely coincides with the folklore matrix of floral motifs
(Карановић 2010: 261–288). In addition, contextualization of flower motifs in
the poetry of Dubrovnik Petrarchists recalls stylization of lily and rose motifs in
the oral tradition (Софрић 1990: 146–147; 189–196).
In most of the songs of the Miscellany - in several hundreds of them - “rose”
and “giglio” are present as part of apostrophizing a beloved, which is expected
given the poetic constant of Dubrovnik Petrarchism which implies that “male
voice” singing, ie. from the masculine perspective, dominates (Bogdan 2002:
113–119). Only in a few songs, “female voice” speaks to the beloved addressing
him conventionally as “my spruce flower”, “my rosy/pale giglio” (ref. 246, 284,
584, etc.) and so on. Such an apostrophe is present relatively rarely in folk songs
as well (Софрић 1990: 192).
High symbolic potential of roses and lilies provided that exactly these two
concepts became the essential elements of Petrarchan herbarium. Since the rose
symbolism is complex, we will present it only in basic lines. According to ancient
2 The motif of “herbs” will not be the subject of our interest, due to its generality, even though it
is frequent in the Miscellany .
3 In Dubrovnik dialect, the term “džilj” became usual under the influence of Italian giglio - lily.
In the folk songs, there is also a variant “žilj” (Јокић–Вујновић 2014: 80).
4 They appear in several variations: “roza”, “rozica”, “džiljak” etc.
5 Olive in the Miscellany occurs in one place. Due to its distinctive symbolism, it has the role of
the “mediator” between men and women when their love is tempted. The young man, to his beloved
“masline posla lis za bilig od mira” [445]. In one poem, the girl is compared with a violet (“jak
ljubica, ki jes cvijet ljuveni” [584]). Wormwood is mentioned always in the stereotype comparative
form (“gorči ner pelin”), when it is sung about suffering of a young man in love.
108
mythology,6 the first roses - the symbol of eternal love, sprang from the blood of
Aphrodite’s lover Adonis. The interpretation of these signs is also present in the
Christian culture, where the rose represents the blood that the crucified Jesus shed
and it symbolizes heavenly love. The Christian iconography also fixed the rose,
“the queen of flowers”, as a symbol of the Virgin Mary and virginity (Chevalier–
Gheerbran 1983: 571). White roses are symbol of death in some mythologies
(Biderman 2004: 335), but also flowers of light, virginity. This flower occurs
often stylized in the heraldic tradition (Biderman 2004: 102, 335–337). Lily,
however, in the Christian tradition, is a symbol of pure, virginal love and the
attribute of many saints (Biderman 2004: 212–213). It acquired the symbolic
status in Christian iconography as Jesus mentioned it in the Sermon on the Mount,
praising the lilies as an example of unquestioning faith, since they grow, “they
toil not, neither do they spin” (Matthew 6, 28; Luke 12, 27). The stem of a lily
represents the pious mind of the Virgin Mary, its leaves her humility, its smell
her divine nature and its whiteness her purity (Lampić 2000: 82). In addition, the
lily symbolizes the intensive love (Chevalier–Gheerbran 1983: 369). Symbolism
and topos of lilies and roses in Serbian folk tradition is strong. These plants are
given great importance in ceremonial and ritual practices (Чајкановић 1994/4:
179–180), and they are listed in the registry of folklore topos. Besides, in the
Serbian medieval literature, the lily regularly appears as the “mark of the saints”
(Половина 2014: 59). All this shows that modelling of floral motifs in Dubrovnik
Petrarchan poetry resulted from a complex layering of deep poetic and cultural
experiences.
In the poetic world of Dubrovnik Petrarchism, the flower motif is
incorporated in the notion of an ideal lover. The appearance of a girl is marked
by the hierofania – demonstration of the divine in a material form. The fame of
her beauty is widely known (“ovo je cvit oni od koga slavan glas po stranah svih
zvoni” [13]; “ka je cvit od gospoj jak od ptice fenice” [116]) because it is not of
this world (“od raja zlamjenje na svitu / koje se potaja jak miris u cvitu” [67]).
Philosophical ideas – inherited from the Antique and particularly elaborated in
the Renaissance treatises – on the universal harmony of the world, based on love
and beauty that pervade the material and spiritual reality (Garen 1988: 148–149),
are poetically sublimated in Petrarchism. God, as the verses testify, announced
his omnipresence through beauty of the “flower”, thus spiritualizing the physical
world (“Kad Bog ovi svit odluči proslavit, / odluči tebi cvit na saj svit projavit”
[695]). A girl of extraordinary beauty is afterwards celebrated by the world as
it is “God’s gift” (“ovo je oni cvit koga će do zvizda uzvisiti ovi svit” [231]).
However, style complex of Petrarchan poetry is not monolithic in the evocation
of female beauty, especially in painting her (omini)potence. The motto “amor
omnia vincit” is evoked by the image of beauty that conquers the world (“ova, od
6 On the echo of ancient culture in the poetry of Dubrovnik Petrarchists, lookup Pokrajac
(Покрајац 2012).
109
gospoj ka je cvit, / ljuveno istrova ljepotom vas svit” [19]). The suggestiveness
in presenting portraits is also achieved by hyperbolic emphasis of beauty that can
enkindle the entire world – “da ni lis ruze na nj, vas svit bi izgoril” [250], and
the intoxicated observer sighs: “Tko ne bi život svoj u željah oćutil” [18]. The
excellence of a girl’s beauty is accentuated through parallelism with the “queen
of flowers” – “ar je sva iznikla kako cvit ružice” [393].
The celebration of the beloved is mediated by the topos of indescribable.
It is activated when it is pointed out that the girl has no equal, neither among
girlfriends (“takmen još vidil na svitu nisam cvit” [270]), nor in the nature –
flowers cannot be compared with her at all (“Toliko ni polje uresno s prolitja, /
u kom je dovolje razliko jur cvitja” [37]), nor in the rose as a symbol of perfect
charm (“ružica rumena i s biljem zazire / od hvale imena tvojega i vire “ [250];
„Poginu ružni7 cvijet cjeć tvoje ljeposti [...] / Još bijeli svaki cvjet spraži se tebe
cjeć“ [811]). The girl’s figure bathes in metaphysical light – a reflection of the
invisible God’s light, which attracts the viewer and invites him to transform into
the splendour of the “supreme good” (Eko 2004: 184). The ontological dimension
of beauty is expressed by comparing a girl with a rose, “ar kako ružan cvit sva
cvitja dobiva, / tač ona vas si svit lipotom prisiva” [443]. The notion of a flower –
especially the rose – as a mediator between the worlds horizontally and vertically,
is stabilized in the folklore (Карановић 2010: 261–262), as well as the notion
of a girl identified with a flower raised by a mother (Јокић–Вујновић 2014: 80)
and therefore folk poetry could be recognized as a confluent at the poetic delta of
Dubrovnik Petrarchists.
The motive of nature occurs conventionally within the poetic canon of
Petrarchism. Description of spring is adequate decor that frames a girl’s image
(“Ter kako u gori, kad je s prolitja / gdi gora sva gori izborom od cvitja” [320];
“kad polje ukresa travicom i cvitjem” [323]). Her appearance is changing the
nature, and autumn landscape undertones in spring colours and vivacity, so
when she “passes” “slander and tall” “procafti t put cvitjem, s mirisom uresen”
[517]. Beauty brings a change in the nature, but also an internal change in the
viewer that witnesses its strength. The moment of falling in love, when a young
man becomes “tied” (Елијаде 1999: 133), i.e. when the “hunter” becomes the
“hunted” (Kapetanović 2007: 115), is fixed with the striking image. It is based
on the parallelism of spring awakening in the nature and awakening of love:
“Zoviješe zora dan a slavno prolitje / travicu drobnu van, zelen lis i cvitje, / ja kad
bih uhićen od ove gospoje” [3].
The very portrait of a beloved is depicted with the intertwining “herbal”
details. At the same time, conforming to Renaissance poetics, the poetic image
is formed vertically “top-down” (from the forehead over the eyes to the mouth,
etc.), and the portrait is “lit and ‘artistically’ concretized” (Летић 2012: 23).
Divine beauty of the girl is eternal and it resists fragility of this world (“sve
7 Ružni – rose’s.
110
cafti u ruži, / ter se njoj umrlo stvorenje ne druži” [53]). Her forehead, face, lips
and neck are painted in blush and pale (“izmiša s ružom džilj ter prosu niz lice”
[221]). The transfusion of opposites “white” : “rosy” in a poetic composition has
a symbolic background. White and red roses represent unity of fire and water,
a unity of opposites (Chevalier–Gheerbran 1983: 572; Lampić 2000: 122). The
two colours of roses in a braid incarnate heavenly perfection and earthly passion
(Chevalier–Gheerbrant 1983: 571–572; Lampić 2000: 122). The poet paints a
girl’s face by mixing different shades, “plamenkom gdi gore nje ličci rumeni, / na
kih džilj vidju ja i cvitje rumeno” [323]; “Ružicom od gore i cvitkom od džilja/
ličca nje sva gore od sniga još bilja” [330]. The figure or colour coupling, “white”
: “rosy” in Petrarchan poetry can also have a foothold in the folklore symbolic
register. Linking these attributes with a floral element is often used in oral poetry
to signify a “halo” of a girl’s “beautiful youth and proud virgin consciousness”
(Софрић 1990: 192), but also her nubility (Карановић 2010: 266).
Renaissance poetic image is “multiple”, composed according to the “pars
pro toto” principle, whereby the relationship between the parts and the whole
picture “has an analogy in parataxis, in the syntactic parallel of songs’ separate
logical units “ (Летић 2012: 23). One of the segments, embedded by the technique
of binding motives “top-down” in the portrait composition, is the description of
a girl’s breasts. The “rose” and “giglio” colours blend there (“mnijah iz roze da
džilji izviru” [455]) tempting young man’s eyes and bringing him restlessness
(“koje me još groze, za kojim umiru” [455]). Girl’s hands are described less
often, but when it does happen, the impression of skin whiteness dominates – “ke
su sneg dobile bjeloćom i džiljak” [323].
According to the Platonic conception, beauty manifests itself in harmony,
i.e. in harmonizing all separate (perfect) elements of some manifestation, because
beauty is the unity of the manifold (Garen 1988: 144). Grace is therefore sensuous
expression of the spiritual movement through body movement. It is observed
in mild body movements and reflects certain “flexibility, with which the body
obeys the soul”, i.e. grace is reflected in harmonizing movement of several body
parts (Garen 1988: 143). Graceful steps are emphasized by the characteristic
comparison – girl moves as if she “zbira ružicu po ravni” [382]. Description of
the girl’s speech, laughter or singing also completes a notion of her appearance.
When the loved one speaks or sings, the young man feels like “čut što ne čuh
nikada, / ter s cvitjem u moj skut mnjah biser da pada” [96, 203] and “cvitje
prosipa i biser s istoči” [523], while her laughter causes a similar impression:
“mnim cvitje da sije i biser da plodi” [323]. Since poetry is an echo of the music
- the harmony of the universe (Pantić 1963: 184–185), it “brings to life” the
woman, who is the light and incarnation of the divine, and her voice is music.
Petrarchist “romance book” is formed according to the inner cliché
and it includes stereotype phases in the presentation of love. One of these
conventions is singing of a young man’s longing caused by appearance of a girl,
111
as well as the suffering caused by unrequited love or separation of lovers if their

love is reciprocated. It is described by various comparisons of a young man’s
suffering with a flower’s suffering under the impact of hoarfrost, ice and heat.
Meaninglessness of life without the beloved is expressed by comparison with
the natural order of things (“Jer kako ne može bez sunca biti cvit, / teč bez nje ja,
Bože, ne mogu biti na svit” [42] “jer kako cvit biti ne može, što ne cti / takoj ja
živiti bez tvoje milosti” [730]), which irrefutably confirms that love is the essence
of life. However, the feeling of unrest is immanent in earthly love. Meeting with
his beloved does not bring peace to the young man (“vazme me groznica / jakino
slelija prid vitrom pozica” [60]) because the longing overtakes him (“željom sve
gori me tužno srdačce, / kako cvit u gori kad plane sunačce”[73]), and existence
between hopes, the fulfilment of love and suffering is illustrated by the instability
and transience of a flower “koji procti ter svene” [356]. On the parallelism of
a man in love’s and a flower’s fate, images are established that show how the
young man has “withered” like the flower which he has got as a gift from his dear
(710, 724). The conventional topos of comparing the young man’s suffering with
the flower’s withering probably originated from poeticizing biblical standards
(Psalm 103: 15–168), which universalise the idea of the vanity and the transience
of human existence. Another place in the Bible (Isaiah 40: 7–89) could have
evoked the specific interpretation in the Petrarchan discourse. The poetic language
has transformed the symbolic “word of God” into the beauty of a girl without
essentially shifting the meaning, because, like in the Bible, the life is friable and
withers like a flower, and the eternal beauty is “angelic” as an act of God.
It is the experience of dealing with “angelic” beauty that fundamentally
influences the young man’s views about the world, of which he unreservedly
waives. The emergence of beauty brings transformation in the young man and
inflames the internal light. The visual reality is transformed, the men in love
“immerses into the divine river” (Garen 1988: 121) realizing a higher purpose in
life: “Svijetu svijet, a moje srdačce obira ovi cvijet” [663]; “Vaskolik ovi svit ne
scinim, vilo, ja / neg ličca tvoga cvit u komu sunce sja” [755]. In one poem, in the
original tone, it is sung about breaking with the values of the secular world and the
experience of love is perpetuated as the only authentic act of existential fullness.
Celebrating death because of love (“Kroz ljubav umriti velmi se veselim”) points
to the complementary nature of life and death, which mirror themselves giving
meaning to each other (“jer što je smrt ino ner jednom izdahnut, / ter ostat jakino
ružan cvit usahnut” [558].
In several poems of the Miscellany, the idea of all-time cohesion of poetry,
beauty and love is expressed. Although the poet sometimes wavers – fearing that
he is not worthy to sing to his beloved (“Ah, je li, moj Bože, van tebe tko na
8 “The days of man are but as grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field [...] When the wind
blows over it, it is gone.”
9 “The grass withers, the flower fades because the spirit of the Lord blows upon it; surely the
people is grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
112
svijet / u pjesnih tko može proslavit ovi cvit?” [696]), he fulfils his fate, given
to him by inspiration from muses or God’s providence, and gives testimony of
the beauty. The enchanted poet believes that the classic poets would be inspired
by his beloved’s charm (“i mudri još Virđil, u mramor da pišu / slaveći tebe džilj
ljepotom najvišu” [250]. Reflections on the immense power of poetry are also
presented by specific interweaving of “plant images” into particular songs. Views
on poetry, which summarize multiple aspects of life in one reality, i.e, the poetry
which compresses entirety into a single focal point, universalizing it – originated
from artistic interpretation of Aristotle’s conception of the nature of poetry. In
addition, the idea of beauty as a reflection of the divine is drawn from Platonic
sources, and harmonized with the Aristotelian conception of poetry. In one poem
from the Miscellany, notions of poetic glory and a girl’s beauty are brought into a
specific relation, while a description of the nature has the characteristic function
of the “comparative copula”. The poet’s lyra causes “jak poljem kad trava listom
cvit usplodi” and the poet believes that he is worthy to sing about his beloved
because her beauty is famed. Wherever the girl passes, flowers bloom, “i rosom
uzsiva jak drobnim biserom[...] / ružom rumenom rajski mirišeć” [571].
The quoted lyrics’ fragments show that “Petrarchan herbarium”, despite
simplicity and conventionality of elements that shape it (“rose”, “giglio” etc.),
has an important function in Petrarchan poetry. They reveal that the specific
stylization of “plant motifs”, resulting from intertwining of different poetic
traditions, contributes to the suggestiveness of poetic images, but also that the
distinct symbolic potential of these elements enables philosophical and aesthetic
concepts to be transferred to Dubrovnik Petrarchism (concept of beauty, love,
poetry, etc.), on which Renaissance poetry in general is based.
REFERENCES
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едиција „Десет векова српске књижевности”. Нови Сад: Издавачки центар
Матице српске.
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Издавачка књижарница Зорана Стојановића.
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иницијацијски пут у српској обредној лирици, у: Г. Раичевић (ed.), Зборник
радова Аспекти идентитета и њихово обликовање у српској књижевности.
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Карановић 2010: З. Карановић, Небеска невеста. Београд: Друштво за српски језик
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лирици, Прилози за књижевност, језик, историју и фолклор. 78: 21–28.
Покрајац 2012: Г. Покрајац, Најстарији дубровачки петраркисти и античко
наслеђе. Нови Сад: Орфелин.
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књижевности, у: З. Карановић (ed.) Биље у традиционалној култури Срба.
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певању код Срба. По Ангелу де Губернатису скупио и саставио Нишевљанин.
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Прир. В. Ђурић. Сабрана дела из српске религије и митологије. Књ. 4.
Београд: СКЗ et al.
*
Biderman 2004: H. Biderman, Rečnik simbola. Beograd: Plato.
Bogdan 2002: T. Bogdan, Ženski glas hrvatskih petrarkista, Republika. 3–4: 113–119.
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Matica hrvatska.
Eko 2004: U. Eko, Istorija lepote. Beograd: Plato.
Garen 1987: E. Garen, Italijanski humanizam. Novi Sad: Književna zajednica Novog
Sada.
Kapetanović 2007: A. Kapetanović, Pojmovne metafore za emocije u Ranjininom
zborniku, Zbornik radova sa znanstvenog skupa „Zbornik Nikše Ranjine”.
Zagreb: HAZU.
Lampić 2000: M. Lampić, Mali rečnik tradicionalnih simbola. Beograd: Libretto.
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objašnjenja Miroslav Pantić. Beograd: Prosveta.
Translatet by: Aleksandra Vučković Matijaš
114
PFLANZEN IN DER SERBISCHEN BÜRGERLICHEN POESIE
UDC: 821.163.41.09-14”17”:[821.163.41.09-14:398
Universität in Novi Sad
Philosophische Fakultät
Institut für serbische Literatur
mdstefan@neobee.net
PFLANZEN IN DER SERBISCHEN BÜRGERLICHEN

POESIE*
Es wird angenommen, dass die bürgerliche Poesie, vor allem jene aus dem 18. Jahrhundert,
von künstlerischer und nicht völkischer Natur ist, und ihre künstlerische Natur wird in der
Arbeit auf Grund des Erscheinens von Pflanzen geprüft. Darüber hinaus, wenn dieselbe
Pflanze vorkommt, die es auch im Volksgedicht gibt, wird in der Arbeit darüber diskutiert,
ob die Funktion dieses floralen Elements in der bürgerlichen Lyrik verändert wurde.
Auf diese Weise wird nicht nur die Erscheinungsfrequenz des Motivs einer bestimmten
Pflanze festgestellt, sondern auch die veränderte Metaphorisierung, sowie die poetischen
Folgen einer solchen Nutzung des Blumenmotivs seitens des Dichters.
Schlüsselwörter: serbische bürgerliche Poesie, 18. Jahrhundert, Rose, Phoenix, Rosmarin,
Lilie.
Über die bürgerliche Poesie wurde relativ viel geschrieben, aber nicht
genügend, wenigstens nicht in dem Maße, dass man einen kontextuellen
Zusammenhang mit der Ganzheit der serbischen Lyrik hergestellt hätte.
Verschiedenartig sind die Gründe für eine solche Nichtbeachtung des literarisch-
historischen und poetischen Horizonts eines wichtigen Teils des serbischen
literarischen Schaffens. Wenn man die zweifellose und bedrückende Tatsache
beiseite lässt, dass sich die Literaturhistoriker und sogar die Medien, welche
sie propagieren, meistens mit dem 19. Jahrhundert und den zeitgemäßsten
literarischen Werken beschäftigen, dann bleibt − wahrscheinlich wegen der
Vermeidung der Erforschung bzw. des Lesens − die Tatsache, dass auch heute
noch die Überzeugung vorherrscht, dass das 18. Jahrhundert „trocken“ ist, bzw.
ein Jahrhundert der Prosa. Die bürgerliche Poesie in der serbischen Literatur
negiert das jedoch vollständig, neben anderen Dichtern und der serbischen Lyrik.
Ohne eine lange Einleitung darüber, was die bürgerliche Poesie ist − sogar
wenn es in dieser Hinsicht verschiedene, ja auch entgegengesetzte Auffassungen
gibt (Stefanović 1992; Kleut 1995) – bleibt diese Lyrik selbst ein kulturologisches
Zeugnis von der Entstehung der bürgerlichen, europäisch orientierten Vers-
*
Dieser Beitrag wurde im Rahmen des Projektes Nr. 178005 „Identitätsaspekte und ihre Gestaltung
in der serbischen Literatur“ (Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Bildung Republik Serbien)
geschrieben.
115
Literatur. Die alte Überzeugung, dass sie an der Grenzlinie zwischen der
mündlichen Volksliteratur und der künstlerischen Literatur steht (Latković 1954;
Beneš 1970), ist schon längst überholt. Das bedeutet aber nicht, dass die bürgerliche
Poesie ohne irgendwelchen poetischen, enger gesehen auch stilistischen Kontakt
zur traditionellen serbischen Dichtung ist.1 Das ist eigentlich auch nicht jene
Lyrik, die wir als künstlerisch bezeichnen – im Gegenteil. Diese Forschung
suchte, unter anderem, die Bestätigung für diese These auch im Wörterbuch der
serbischen bürgerlichen Lyrik, besonders in dessen Teil, der sich der Erwähnung
von Pflanzennamen und der Flora-Welt widmet. So bezieht sich die erste Tatsache
auf die Nutzung des Verbs „blühen“. Im reichen Wortschatz von Vuk Karadžić
wird nur die dennotative Bedeutung dieses Begriffs angegeben. In der serbischen
Lyrik hat dieser Begriff nur ausnahmsweise auch seine Metaphorisierung
erhalten. In der bürgerlichen Poesie ist der Grad der Metaphorisierung jedoch viel
ausgeprägter: „durch [...] dein Herz / blüht mein Körper ständig“ / (Marinković 1:
Nr. 79); „eine sonderbare Anziehung blüht zwischen den Damen“ (Marinković 1:
Nr. 10); „Liebste, dein Gesicht blüht“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 200). Aus einer solchen
Personifizirung hat der Dichter in anderen Gedichten auch die Genitiv-Metapher
„Blüte der Jugend“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 58, Nr. 82) geschaffen, aber auf dieser
Grundlage auch das personifizierte Epitheton „blühende Jugend“ (Marinković
2: Nr. 280). Etwas seltener erscheint der Vergleich der Traurigkeit des jungen
Mannes wegen dem Mädchen (Marinković 1: Nr. 23: „Weißt du nicht, dass es
schwer ist / sich frisch von seiner Liebsten zu trennen / und im Herzen zu welken
/ wie die Blume in der Sonne“; Nr. 216: „Ach, in den Garten geh´ ich, / für
dich pflück´ ich Blumen; / auf mein Herz leg` ich sie... Wie diese Blumen / auf
meinem Herzen welken, / so welkt mein Herz / wegen dir“; Nr. 258: „So wie
ich welke / wie alle Blumen, / die man abreißt / und die weit fallen / von ihrer
Wurzel“). Für den Dichter ist das Mädchen eine „Blume“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 147:
„meine geliebte Blume“, Marinković 1: Nr. 187: „Ach, wunderschöne Blume“;
in Form des Deminutivs, mit dem die Begeisterung und die Liebkosung mit
Worten ausgedrückt wird, aber auch das Rühmen der Schönheit des Mädchens,
in Marinković 2, Nr. 284: „Ein rühmliches Blümchen bist du, ebenbürtig einem
kaiserlichen Thron“; Marinković 2, Nr. 278: „Du bist eine Blume, ins Herz
eingepflanzt / und der Seele hinzugepflanzt. / Du bist ein Edelstein, / das sage
ich dir“).
Damit er von der grundlegenden Bedeutung konnotative Bedeutungen des
Verbs bildet, hat der bürgerliche Dichter zuerst die Natur und deren Phänomene
konstatiert. In den Gedichten „über die Natur“ hat die versmäßige Reaktion einen
etwas allgemeineren Charakter: zuerst wird die Atmosphäre der Natur durch die
Elemente des „Grases“ und der „Blumen“ gekennzeichnet (Marinković 1: Nr.
1 Hier wird bewusst, und durchaus nicht im Sinne des Wertes, der Terminus „Dichtertum“ benutzt,
denn es handelt sich nicht ausschließlich um Lyrik, sondern um Werke in Versen, die an der Grenze
zwischen Lyrik und Epik stehen.
116
12; Nr. 141; Nr. 149; Nr. 167; Nr. 244; Nr. 247), mit der seltenen Nennung von
Blumenarten (Marinković 1: Nr. 92: „Gedicht vom Frühling“; Nr. 17: „Lob an
Slawonien, Srem, die Fruška Gora und Karlovci“). Die Atmosphäre der Natur
nutzt der Dichter als Ambient für sein Liebesfeuer (Marinković 1: Nr. 186: „Leg
mir Blumen an den Hut, / wenn ich beginne, an Blumen zu riechen / und nach
dir Seufzer auszustoßen“; Marinković 2: Nr. 271: „Verwelkt wie eine Blume /
getrennt von ihrem Stamme / du wirst das Blümchen kühlen / und es wird sich
erholen“).
In vielen Versen finden wir Beweise, dass der bürgerliche Dichter das
Volksgedicht gut kennt. Das Mädchen ist bei ihm groß, schlank und dünn „wie
eine Tanne“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 112; Marinković 2: Nr. 447: „schlanke grüne
Tanne“; Marinković 1: Nr. 134: „in der Hüfte dünn / wie eine schlanke Tanne“).
Die traditionelle symbolische Bedeutung von drei Tannen geht im bürgerlichen
Gedicht verloren; sie erhält nämlich nicht die Funktion eines Symbols, das im
Grunde genommen ein klares dichterisches Bild enthält; es gibt wenigstens keine
direkte Symbolisierung, sondern sie wird als Element der arkadischen Atmosphäre
genutzt, die im Gegensatz zur Traurigkeit des jungen Mannes steht: „Dort, wo
drei Tannen stehen / und der Bach fließt / sitzt sie in Ruhe / und wendet sich
einem anderen zu“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 253). Der Einfluss des Volksgedichtes ist
zweifellos in der Beschreibung des weißen Mädchengesichtes, aber es wird auch
der bürgerliche Geschmack hinzugefügt: „wie mit Milch begossen“ (Marinković
1: Nr. 226; Nr. 227). Sogar in der Beschreibung der Schlankheit des Mädchens,
wie eine dünne Tanne, ändert sich die Atmosphäre, denn in sie mischen sich
noch die „Witwen-Hyazinthe“ und das „rote Röslein“, als Liebesantipode
(Marinković 2: Nr. 445). Der klare Verweis auf das Volksgedicht befindet sich
natürlich im Gespräch zwischen der Pflanzenwelt: gelbe Quitte, grüner Apfel,
weiße Weinrebe, nicht gemähte Weide; und als das Mädchen ihr Gespräch gehört
hatte, versuchte sie, ihnen zu parieren, worauf der junge Mann auch geantwortet
hat, metaphorisch: „Ich werde eine gelbe Quitte am Meer pflücken, / einen
grünen Apfel werde ich pflücken, / weiße Weintrauben werde ich essen, / die
ungemähte Weide werde ich mähen, / das nicht umworbene Mädchen werde ich
unumworben begatten“ (Marinković 2: Nr. 454). Dieser Parallelismus der Natur
und des jugendhaften Liebeswunsches2 hat eine Metaphorisierung geschaffen,
2 Ähnlich ist es auch im Gedicht zum Tanz (Marinković 2: Nr. 492), wo ein etwas freimütigeres
Mädchen in jeder Strophe einen anderen jungen Mann mit einer Blume vergleicht: dabei reimt sich
in der serbischen Sprache der entsprechende Name des jungen Mannes mit der entsprechenden
Blume.: „Ich würde Kuhschellen pflücken, / ich würde Vasa küssen... Liebster, Vasa, / du Strauß
von Rosmarin... Ich würde Holunder pflücken, / ich würde Jova küssen... Liebster, Jova, du Strauß
von weißem Basilikum... Ich würde die zarte Binse pflücken, / ich würde Mita küssen... Ich würde
Gras pflücken, / ich würde Sava küssen... Ich würde Weintrauben pflücken, / ich würde Đorđe
küssen...“. In Verbindung mit diesem Metaphorisierungsverfahren stehen auch die Mädchennamen:
Jela, Jelka (dt: Tanne) (Marinković 1: Nr. 41; Nr. 114); Pela stammt bestimmt von der Bezeichnung
für das Gras „pelin“ (dt. Wermut), und zwar im Gedicht, wo der junge Mann zwar das Mädchen
lobt, aber gleichzeitig leidet er wegen der Angst, dass sie ihn verlassen wird, und kontrastisch ist
das Verhältnis von süß und bitter dargestellt, d. h. von Basilikum und Wermut (Marinković 1:
117
die im letzten Vers in die Gegenwart zurückgekehrt ist; im Gedicht Marinković 1,

Nr. 116 beschreibt der Dichter das Erwecken des Frühlings, und so ist „eine rote
Rose aus der Wurzel gewachsen“, was das Zeichen dafür ist, dass der junge Mann
das Mädchen zum Liebestreffen einladen kann („Komm mit mir, mein Seelchen,
in das grüne Heim“). So ist der bürgerliche Dichter durch das Medium der Poesie
gleichzeitig in die Realiät seines Lebens und seiner Seele eingetaucht. Es ist
jedoch interessant − und diese Tatsache kann man poetisch in den Kontext der
Dubrovniker Renaissance-Dichtung bringen −, dass in den Gedichten, in denen
das Petrarka-Vokabular betont anwesend ist, sogar mit manchen Ausdrücken aus
Dubrovnik, die Erwähnung von Blumen merkbar fehlt.3
Die häufigste Blume, die im serbischen bürgerlichen Gedicht erwähnt wird,
ist die Rose. Im Gedicht von Avakum Avakumović ist die Rose gradmäßig auf
dem Thron der ganzen Pflanzenwelt: zwei junge Menschen, nach ihrer Figur und
ihrer Schönheit, waren „Wie ein Adler unter den Vögeln / und ein Röslein unter
den Blumen“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 15); ähnlich dichtet auch Miroslav Zanović:
„das Röslein rühmt sich selbst / dass es über allen Blumen thront“ (Marinković
1: Nr. 13); im selben Sammelband, Nr. 74: „Du warst bis jetzt berühmt / und
dem Röslein ebenbürtig“; „Darum, oh Götter, verwandelt uns / entweder in
eine Blume, oh Röslein, / oder in den klaren Stern / am Himmel, oh Danica“;
alles feiert die Mädchenschönheit: „auch die Vögelchen auf den Zweigen, / die
Schmetterlingchen auf dem Röslein, / sie beugen sich vor seinem Thron / und
erheben es rühmlich “ (Marinković 1: Nr. 275). Mit der Rose wird metaphorisch
die geliebte Person genannt: „Einen guten Tag gebe euch Gott, meine rote
Blume“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 78); „Mädchen Röslein, du rote Rose“ (Marinković
2: Nr. 442); und als Variante erscheint auch der Vers „Oh, junges Mädchen, du
rotes Röslein“ (Marinković 2: Nr. 442).4 Es scheint, dass die rote Farbe und der
Duft dieser Blume das Umfeld für die Liebesatmoshäre sind (am deutlichsten in
Marinković 2: Nr. 456).
Nr. 72); die Rose, die sich selbst in ausschweifendem Stolz darstellt („die Dame Ruža /Anm: auf
serbisch ist `ruža´ der Name für die Rose und gleichzeitig auch ein weiblicher Name/ spaziert wie
ein Pfau“, Marinković 1, Nr. 10). Es ist ungewöhnlich, dass die häufige Benutzung des Veilchens
als Symbol von verführerischen Elementen sowohl in der Farbe als auch im Duft nicht gefolgt wird
von der Häufigkeit der Benutzung des weiblichen Namens, der von dieser Blume entstanden ist; nur
an drei Stellen in 500 Gedichten erscheint der Name Ljubičica ili Ljubica (Anm: ljubičica ist das
serbische Wort für Veilchen und zugleich ein weiblicher Name) (Marinković 1: Nr. 142; Nr. 254;
und im Gedicht Nr. 10, einem satyrischen, spielt der Dichter Jovan Avakumović mit der Bedeutung
dieses weiblichen Namens: „Ljubica möchte von Liebe (Anm: Liebe heißt auf serbisch „ljubav“,
was dem Mädchennamen ähnelt) nichts wissen“; hier besteht jedoch wahrscheinlich die christliche
Symbolik des Veilchens: die Unterwürfigkeit vor der Jungfräulichkeit, vgl. Badurina: 388).
3 Da die Autorin dieser Arbeit eine Monographie über Petrarkismus in der serbischen und
kroatischen Literatur vorbereitet, soll an dieser Stelle als wichtiger Befund die Tatsache festgehalten
werden, dass die Nennung von Blumen in der serbischen petrarkistischen Dichtung vermieden
wurde; in der antipetrarkistischen war die Situation anders, fast sogar antipodisch.
4 Wahrscheinlich wird auch in den Gedichten, in denen keine bestimmte Blume genannt wird, mit
der Farbe angedeutet, dass es sich um die Rose handelt, und man denkt dabei an die rote Farbe der
Wangen: „Und mit dir rühme ich mich, du rote Blume“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 85).
118
Zuerst wird diese Blume jedoch mit der roten Farbe der Wangen in
Verbindung gebracht („in den Wangen eine rote Rose“, Marinković 1: Nr.
84; in Nr. 190: die Wangen des Mädchens sind sogar „zwei Röslein“, und in
Nr. 195 ist das ganze Gesicht „rot wie ein Röslein“),5 der Dichter bezeichnet
sie als sein „Röslein“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 146) oder als ein „rotes Röslein“
(Marinković 1: Nr. 209; Nr. 212); ihre Jungfräulichkeit vergleicht er mit einer
frisch „gepflückten Rose“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 54); dem jungen Mann scheint das
Mädchen wie eine Blume, die mit ihrer Schönheit aufblüht. (Marinković 1: Nr.
189: „blüht wie eine Rose“); „das fünfzehnjährige Mädchen ist für den jungen
Mann eine „Frühlingsblume“, jungfräulich, während ihn die reiferen Mädchen
an eine „rote Rose“ erinnern (Marinković 1: Nr. 145); und die jungen Menschen
in Sentandreja ziert die Schönheit einer Blume (Marinković 1: Nr. 31: „dort
ist die Jugend wie ein Röslein“). Die Rose wird im Gedicht zum Symbol des
Duftes, welcher die Menschen versammelt, die am Grabe eines jungen Mannes
vorbeigehen (Marinković 1: Nr. 147: „Über meinem Kopf / pflanzt eine Rose...
wenn ein junger Mensch vorbeikommt / soll er sich mit der Rose schmücken“);
und das Mädchen trauert, weil ihre Schönheit nicht aufgeblüht ist („Warum bin
ich so jung gestorben, / wie eine Rose verwelkt“, Marinković 1: Nr. 260) oder
weil der junge Mann seine „Liebste“ verlassen hat, und sie fühlt sich darum wie
eine verwelkte Blume („Für mich ist eine rote verwelkte Rose“, Marinković 1:
Nr. 276). Andererseits kann das Gedicht auch kontrastisch aufgebaut sein, wo das
Glück mit der Rose gleichgesetzt wird, und wenn der junge Mann das Mädchen
verlässt, dann ähnelt ihr die letzte scheinbare Andeutung einem „Glas voll von
Ärger“ (Marinković 2: Nr. 448).
Der bürgerliche Dichter pflegt auch das Motiv der „weißen Rose“, als
Symbol für die Jungfräulichkeit zweier junger Menschen, und dieses Motiv
erscheint auf demselben Niveau der Reinheit von Jungfräulichkeit im Gedicht
vom Taubenpaar (Marinković 1: Nr. 160; Nr. 182); die identische Bedeutung
besteht auch im Gedicht Nr. 481 (Marinković 2): „Weiße Rose, bist du aufgeblüht,
/ meine Taube, hast du geheiratet“); aber auch: „Meine liebe Turteltaube / und
rotes Röslein... Bleib, bleib, meine Liebste, gesund, / sei ebenbürtig deiner
Lieblingsblume“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 72). Wie die Jungfräulichkeit in die
5 Das Mädchen möchte, dass sie der junge Mann liebt, und in dieser Hoffnung würde sie „sich
mit Rosen reiben, / so dass sie rote Wangen bekommt“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 215). Das Mädchen im
bürgerlichen Gedicht liebt die Rose, und diese wird sogar zur diskreten Andeutung des Liebes- und
des erotischen Erlebnisses: „Mit einer Rose spielend / auf den weißen Brüsten / die lieben Hände
greifend / kommt Kälte in mein Herz“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 188). Als Symbol für die Kennzeichnung
der Verliebtheit beginnt diese Blume einen Dialog mit dem Mädchen: „Ich pflanze eine Rose
inmitten von Novi Sad. / Oh, Röslein, oh, meine Traurigkeit, / weder pflück´ich dich, noch geb
ich dich meinem Freund“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 153). Interessant ist auch das Gedicht (Marinković
2: Nr. 471), welches auf die Weise des „Alten Vujadin“ beginnt, aber etwas wurde verändert: „Das
Mädchen verflucht die schwarzen Augen: / Schwarze Augen, soll sie die Schlange trinken!“, und
der junge Händler antwortet ihr: „Schwarze Augen, zwei Edelsteine... Zwei Wangen, zwei rote
Rosen “ – der Ruf im Gedicht deutet die schreckliche Szene an, die jedoch vom Anbeter, dem
Händler, gemildert wird.
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Liebesleidenschaft übergeht, hat der Dichter durch das Verhältnis zwischen der
weißen und roten Farbe der Rosenwelt besungen: 1. auf der Donau schwimmt ein
Strauß von weißen Rosen, und wenn das Mädchen Anica diesen Strauß erblickt,
ruft sie einen Vogel, dass er ihr schön singt, und als Gegendienst wird sie ihm
Rosenwasser geben (Marinković 2: Nr. 440); 2. im Gegensatz zum Vorigen, stirbt
das Mädchen, bevor sie zur Frau geworden ist: „Weiße und rote Rose, / und
alle Blumen im Garten, / mit euch wird sich Doris nicht schmücken – sie ist im
Grabe“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 91).
Der bürgerliche Dichter kombiniert im Gedicht Motive von verschiedenen
Blumenarten. So vereinen sich die Düfte von Basilikum und Federgras mit der
Metapher Rose-Mädchen: „Oh, Marica, meine Seele, / deine Liebe ist überaus
süß, / meine Rose und mein Federgras, / du trägst den Duft von Basilikum“
(Marinković 1: Nr. 161). Und die betont europäische Tendenz im bürgerlichen
Gedicht zeigt sich durch die Einbeziehung von Rosmarin als Ersatz für den
wohlduftenden Mädchenkörper im symbolischen Umfeld der Rose, die ein Ersatz
für den Mädchenkuss ist: „Und all meine Gedanken an die Liebste, / meine Feder
schreibt sie geschwind nieder, / meine weißen Hände umarmen den Rosmarin.
/ ich umarme den Rosmarin und küsse mein Röslein. / Statt dich, umarme ich
den grünen Rosmarin, / statt dich, küsse ich das rote Röslein, / das rote Röslein
statt deiner Lippen“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 264); ähnlich ist es auch in Marinković
1: Nr. 209; Nr. 212: das Mädchen ist für den jungen Mann gleichzeitig eine
„Rosmarinblüte“ und eine „rote Rose“.
Der Rosmarin erscheint meistens in Liebesgedichten; die Motivation
für seine Anwesenheit ist dort ganz klar. Aber dem Mädchen genügt es nicht,
dass sie mit dem Rosmarin – wegen seines Duftes – den jungen Mann benennt,
sondern dieser erotische Liebeseindruck wird noch durch den Duft einer „weißen
Nelke“ verstärkt (Marinković 1: Nr. 51). Der junge Mann nennt das Mädchen
auch einen Rosmarin, und zwar von einem spezifischen geographischen Gebiet
(„indischer Rosmarin“), aber auch das genügt ihm nicht für die Beschreibung
des Liebesrausches, und er fügt noch hinzu, dass sie eine „duftende Salbei“
ist (Marinković 1: Nr. 157). Der Rosmarin wird im Volksgedicht eigentlich als
„Hochzeitsblume“ bezeichnet (Čajkanović 1985: 210), im bürgerlichen Gedicht
ist er nur wegen seinem berauschenden Duft anwesend, welcher verführerisch
effektiv ist, und das Nennen von Apollon ist der vollständige Beweis der
Abweichung vom Volksgedicht: „Rosmarin, voller Duft, / wer deinen Duft riecht
/ nennt dich Apollon - / Und dann kennt dich jeder“ (Marinković 2: Nr. 341).
Phoenix, eine Pflanze, welche das Volksgedicht nicht kennt, erscheint
sehr häufig in der serbischen Aufklärung, in Prosa und Vers, sie wird auch als
Synonym für die Palme und deren Frucht benutzt. Der bürgerliche Dichter
nutzt sie meistens zur Beschreibung eines melancholischen Zustands und eines
Klageliedes. Metodije Mihailović vergleicht sich selbst mit dem Phoenix, denn er
ist traurig, da er Mönch werden muss, und das bedeutet den Verlust des geliebten
120
Mädchens: „Oh, sonderbarer Phoenix, / einzigartig auf der Welt, / bescheiden

muss er leben, / so sein Leben verbringen... Ein Phoenix bin ich jetzt, / ich bin
ihm gleich“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 34). Im selben Gedicht wird kontrastisch die
Vorstellung des jungen Mannes vom Mädchen gegenübergestellt, von dem er sich
für immer trennen muss, und diese Vorstellung ist all das, was er nie haben wird,
und sie ist berauschend und verführerisch: „Sie sind nicht für mich, / ach, einen
armen Mönch. / Oh, du weiße Lilie, mit einem wunderschönen Duft, / und rot wie
ein Röslein, / du bist jedem lieb“ (ibid). Der Baum, der für seine Größe bekannt
ist, der die Fähigkeit der Anabiose hat, d. h. einer scheinbaren Abwesenheit von
Leben, das in ihm mit dem Beginn der Regenperiode erneuert wird – in der
englischen Kultur ist er als „auferstehende Pflanze“ bekannt – bekommt in einem
bürgerlichen Gedicht eine ganz entgegengesetzte Bedeutung, d. h. der Baum,
der auf dem Grab eines Verstorbenen gewachsen ist, wird ohne Früchte bleiben:
„Auf meinem Grabe ist ein Phoenix-Baum. / wen sein Wurm gebärt, / der wird
eine ärmliche Frucht bringen“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 36).6 Wie beim Vergleich mit
einer Tanne, wegen der Schlankheit des Körpers, findet das bürgerliche Gedicht
dieselbe Eigenschaft auch beim Phoenix („Wenn du über die Straßen schreitest
/ denke ich, dass du ein Pfau bist, / ein Phoenix-Baum, sehr hoch, / auf ihm ist
ein wunderschöner Falke“, Marinković 1: Nr. 49; „Alle Untreuen dieser Welt, /
wo ist der Duft der wunderschönen Blume / der rühmlichen Phoenix-Blume / ihn
wünscht die Falkenseele“, Marinković 1: Nr. 246)
Die Lilie ist jedoch eine Blume, die ihre ursprüngliche Bedeutung ganz
verändert hat, jene welche ihr das Christentum gegeben hatte. Ich bin allerdings
nicht sicher, ob manche bisherige Deutungen der Anwesenheit der Lilie in der
serbischen Literatur des Mittelalters richtig waren, denn sie sind nicht vom
ursprünglichen christlich kanonisierten Symbol dieser Blume ausgegangen, und
6 Diese Blume wächst auf den Pyrenäen und auf dem Olymp und sie hat die Fähigkeit der eigenen
Erneuerung. „Das sind reliktische Pflanzen oder lebende Fossile der einstigen subtropischen Flora,
die auf unserem Kontinent vor der Eiszeit bestanden hat – erklärt Vladimir Stevanović, Professor
an der Biologischen Fakultät in Beograd. Die Ramondien auf dem Balkan, bekannt auch unter dem
Namen Phoenix oder kleine Kuchen, wie sie wegen ihrer Schönheit im Volksmund genannt werden,
blühen von der zweiten Hälfte vom April bis zur ersten Hälfte vom Mai. Wenn sie während der
Dürrezeit in die Ruhepause kommen, falten sie die Blätter in eine Art Knäuel, die so trocken sind,
dass sie zwischen den Fingern zerfallen. Aber nachdem es geregnet hat, bekommen sie schon nach 12
Stunden alle physiologischen Charakteristiken zurück, und sie öffnen sich bald wieder vollständig.
Eine Art von Phoenix, aber als autochtone serbische Art, wurde von Josif Pančić entdeckt. Es gibt
keine Angaben, ob Pančić wusste, dass die balkanischen Ramondien die Anabiose-Fähigkeit haben.
Obwohl unser bekannter Botaniker Nedeljko Košanin auf diesem Gebiet noch im 19. Jahrhundert
detailliert geforscht hat, hat der russische Botaniker Pavel Černjavski im Jahre 1928 einen der
impressivsten Beweise für ihr Wiederaufleben gegeben. Es wird gesagt, dass Černjavski eines Tages
zufällig ein Glas Wasser umgestoßen hat und das Wasser hat das Herbarium befeuchtet, in dem sich
unter anderem auch Natalijas Ramonda befanden hatte. Als er es am nächsten Tag geöffnet hat,
war er verblüfft, denn die zuvor ganz trockene Pflanze, welche im Herbarium einandhalb Jahre
aufbewahrt wurde, ist zum Leben erwacht – sagt unser Gesprächspartner. (Blečić 2010: 7). Diese
Eigenschaft der Wiedergeburt kennt auch der bürgerliche Dichter; im geistigen Gedicht vergleicht
er die Eigenschaften des Phoenix mit Menschen, die zu neuen Gläubigern werden: „Der starke neu
erblühte Phoenix“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 5).
121
dieses durfte in der normativen bzw. präskriptiven Poetik der gehobenen Literatur
nicht geändert werden. Die Volksdichtung kennt die Bedeutung der Lilie nicht.
In die serbische Literatur kommt sie erst zusammen mit dem Christentum, und
zwar in die künstlerische Literatur, vor allem als Blume der Mutter Gottes in
der Bedeutung der heiligen Jungfrau. Sie kennzeichnet die Fehlerlosigkeit und
ist das regelmäßige Attribut des Engels Gabriel, und später bekommt sie auch
die Bedeutung eines königlichen Kennzeichens (Badurina 1985: 387–388). Die
Jungfräulichkeit des Mädchens, in das der junge Mann verliebt ist, bezeichnet der
bürgerliche Dichter als „weiße Lilie“, die sich eines Tages in ein „rotes Röslein“
verwandeln wird, und der junge Mann nennt sich selbst − in dieser angespannten
Erwartung, dass er zu ihrem Ehemann wird − einen „Phoenix“ (Marinković 1:
Nr. 34). Der bürgerliche Dichter ist so im Rahmen der christlichen Symbolik des
Duftes dieser berauschenden und verführerischen Blume geblieben.
Zum orientalen Zusatz zur Symbolisierung der Flora im bürgerlichen
Gedicht hat auch die Erwähnung der Hyazinthe und der Nelke beigetragen: „Zwei
Blumen sind auf einem Zweiglein gewachsen, / die eine war eine Hyzinthe, die
andere eine Nelke, / Hyaznithe-junger Mann, jung zum Heiraten, / Nelke, jung zum
Heiraten“ (Marinković 2: Nr. 475). Und als Variante der mündlichen Volksballade
über Omer und Merima hat sie der bürgerliche Dichter ganz im Umfeld von
berauschenden Düften und der aufgeblühten Schönheit bedichtet (Merima hat
Omer ein „Nelken-Röslein“ gegeben), die symbolisch zur Heirat führt (Omers
Mutter hat beiden einen „Rosmarin“ geschenkt) – vgl. Marinković 2: Nr. 446.
Der Name Nelke erscheint zweifach: als Name des jungen Mannes (Marinković
2: Nr. 476) und als Mädchenname (Marinković 2: Nr. 475). Das Mädchen ist
für den jungen Mann eine Jungfrau, die berauschend nach unerreichter Erotik
duftet („weiße Nelke“, Marinković 1, Nr. 187); und die Witwe möchte das Feuer
der Leidenschaft entfachen, indem sie eine „rote Nelke“ statt „Gras“ schenkt
(Marinković 2: Nr. 453).
Das Basilikum erscheint außerordentlich selten im bürgerlichen Gedicht,
und zwar vor allem in Versen, die vollständig in der Poetik des traditionellen
Volksgedichtes realisiert sind (Marinković 2: Nr. 342); es erscheint auch im
bekannten Syntagma „Federgras und Basilikum“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 161).
In einem Gedicht erscheinen jedoch nach Kontrasteigenschaften, die auch im
Volksglauben bekannt sind, Basilikum und Wermut, aber diese Blume bitteren
Geschmacks und das Symbol für die Bitterkeit und das Elend des Lebens erscheint
jetzt in der Bedeutung von Freude, als neue Lebensphilosophie: „Basilikum
habe ich gepflanzt, / und Wermut ist mir gewachsen. / Alle Menschen sagen - /
Wermut ist ein bitteres Kraut, / aber für mich ist Wermut / die größte Freude “
(Marinković 1: Nr. 85). In derselben Bedeutung erscheint der Wermut auch neben
dem Rosmarin; es gibt jedoch eine Verschiebung der Perspektive: der Rosmarin
als Symbol der Heirat, welches auch das Volksgedicht kennt, wird nicht realisiert,
sondern es bleibt als einzige Lebenserfahrung die Bitterkeit, weil es zur Heirat
122
nicht gekommen ist: „Wo mein Liebster schreitet, / dort wächst der Rosmarin, /
und wo mein Liebster schreitet, / dort blüht der Rosmarin. / Grüner Rosmarin,
/ mein geliebter Liebster, / wo sein Pferd schreitet, / dort wächst der Wermut. /
Wermutlein, Wermutlein, / mein bitteres Kraut, / mein bitteres Kraut, / das ist
mir eine Freude“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 103). Am Ende nähert sich das Basilikum
nach seinen Eigenschaften der Rose, und zwar in einem ungewöhnlichen, aber
angedeuteten Liebesdialog zwischen der Schwiegertochter und dem Bruder des
Bräutigams, die zwischen Basilikumsträuchern spazieren, und sie geben einander
Komplimente: für den Bruder ist sie ein „rotes Röslein“, und sie antwortet ihm,
dass es darum ist, weil sie sich am Morgen mit „đul“ (Anm.: Rosenwasser)
gewaschen hat, und ihr Gesicht hat sie mit einer „Rose“ gerieben (Marinković
2: Nr. 442) – dieses Dublett der serbischen und türkischen Bezeichnung für die
Rose zeigt, dass es sich um einen noch höheren Grad der Symbolisierung der
Eigenschaften handelt, welche diese Pflanze sowohl in der serbischen als auch in
der orientalen Kultur hat.
Am seltensten erscheinen die folgenden Pflanzen:
– Alikren: „der Alikren ist erblüht“ (Marinković 2: Nr. 348); die Bedeutung
dieser Pflanze ist nicht klar, außer wenn sie etwas Wertvolles bezeichnet,
was das Mädchen für den jungen Mann darstellt;
– Pfingstrose: bei den Füßen eine Pfingstrose (Marinković 2: Nr. 487);
– Kiefer: der Wald, in dem die Kiefer voller Blätter ist (Marinković 2: Nr.
464);
– Efeu: im Hochzeitsgedicht (Marinković 1: Nr. 210: „Mein Herz, dein Herz,
/ verwoben in der Liebe, / wie ein Efeu um eine Eiche herum / im grünen
Hain“);
– Kirsche: Kirschlein (Marinković 2: Nr. 467); das Kirschbäumchen ist
voller Früchte (Marinković 2: Nr. 488);
– Klee: der Klee und in ihm das Mädchen (Marinković 2: Nr. 460);
– Quitte: „Als du mir eine Quitte geschenkt hast, / habe ich diese Quitte unter
das Kissen gelegt, / sie hat für dich und mich geduftet“ (Marinković 2: Nr.
496); „Dein kleiner Busen ist wie kleine Quitte“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 62);
– đul (türkisch Rose): đul-Wasser bzw. Rosenwasser (Marinković 2: Nr. 466);
– Salbei: das Mädchen ist eine „duftende Salbeiblüte“ (Marinković 1: Nr.
157);
– Eichel: eine Tasche voller Eicheln (lustiges Gedicht, Marinković 2: Nr.
411);
– Hyazinthe: das Mädchen ist für den jungen Mann eine „blaue Hyazinthe“
(Marinković 1: Nr. 233);
– Pappel: vor dem Haus des Mädchens ist ein „großer Pappelbaum“
(Marinković 1: Nr. 197); das Mädchen hebt sich zwischen den anderen
jungen Menschen mit ihrer Figur hervor, die wie eine „hohe Tanne“ ist
123
– Apfel: „Deine zwei kleinen Brüste / portugiesische Äpfelchen“ (Marinković

1: Nr. 272); „Deine Brüste sind zwei Äpfel, / zwischen diesen deine Brust
/ schneeweiß“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 84); siehe auch Quitte;
– Ahorn: ein großer Baum, der von Weitem gesehen wird und welcher grünt
– Esche: ein Berg mit Eschen (Marinković 2: Nr. 432; Nr. 464);
– Zeder: „Mehrere Zedern heben jetzt den Kopf. / Oh, Serbien, zeige Ruhm“
(Gedicht über Karađorđe, Marinković 1: Nr. 32);
– Feldahorn: ein Berg mit Feldahornbäumen (Marinković 2: Nr. 432);
– Brennnessel: das Mädchen denkt darüber nach, wie sie den Gürtel des
jungen Mannes schmücken soll – „mit einer Brennnessel hat sie ihn
geschmückt. / Immer wenn er sich hinlegt, soll sie ihn brennen, / wenn
er aufsteht, soll er sich reiben, / so dass er keine kleinen Mädchen küsst“
– Mais: der vorjährige Mais (lustiges Gedicht, Marinković 2: Nr. 411);
– Weinrebe, in der slawischen Antithese: „windete sich eine weiße Weinrebe
/ um die weiße Stadt Buda herum. / Das war keine weiße Weinrebe, das
waren zwei Junge und Liebliche “ (Marinković 1: Nr. 137); siehe auch
unter „Weizen“;
– Orange: in den grünen Garten unter dem Orangenbaum (Marinković 2:
Nr. 469); die Schwester des Mädchens sitzt „unter einem Orangenbaum“
– Ringelblume: das Mädchen pflückt Ringelblumen (Marinković 2: Nr. 441);
– Weizen: weißer Weizen (Marinković 2: Nr. 466); „der Weizen ist ein reiner
Samen, / Liebste (Name), schöner Name“ (Marinković 1: Nr. 211); als
Prosit: einer von drei Vögeln trägt im Schnabel „Weizen“ als Kennzeichen,
und ein anderer einen „Weinrebenast “ (Marinković 2: Nr. 490);
– šeftelija (türk. Pfirsich oder Wildaprikose): wuchs als šeftelija (Marinković
2: Nr. 484);
– Buchsbaum: Buchsbaum auf dem Donauschiff (Marinković 1: Nr. 136);
– Pflaume: eine Schar von Pflaumen (humorvolles Gedicht, Marinković 2:
Nr. 411).
Die Anwesenheit all dieser floralen Ikonographie ist nicht nur formell.
Die Nennung von Blumen im bürgerlichen Gedicht ist auch semantisch
gekennzeichnet. Die formelle Perzeption einer Blume ist in die Bedeutung
des Gedichts eingegangen. Das gleiche gilt natürlich auch für die Welt des
mündlichen Volksgedichts. Die Bedeutungen verschieben sich jedoch im
bürgerlichen Gedicht, man würde sagen, sogar ganz anders als in der Lyrik der
Romantik. Obwohl auch die bürgerliche Lyrik und das Gedicht aus der Romantik-
Epoche das Vokabular des Volksgedichtes benutzen, ist im 19. Jahrhundert der
Kontakt zwischen dem Mündlichen und dem Künstlerischen enger, sowohl
nach der Form als auch nach der Bedeutung. Im Gedicht des 18. Jahrhunderts
124
besteht allerdings ein Verhältnis, aber das ursprünglich Völkische wird auf ene
andere Ebene erhoben – die bürgerliche. Diejenigen Literaturhistoriker haben
jedoch kein Recht, die behaupten, dass der bürgerliche Dichtrer eine negierende
Einstellung gegenüber dem Volksgedicht hat (vgl. Pejović 1968). Ganz anders:
der Dichter des 18. Jahrhunderts weiß vom Volksgedicht, er benutzt manches
von der Versmorphologie, manches von den stilistischen Verfahren, aber seine
Einstellung gegenüber dem Gedicht ist anders. Er lebt letztendlich in der Stadt,
er bereist europäische Volksfeste, bemerkt neue Sachen und in die Realität seiner
Gedichte bringt er die Realität der ganzen Welt hinein. Darum ist er auch direkter
im Ausdruck, eintöniger im Vergleich, aber auch metaphorischer in der Bedeutung.
So paradoxal diese Behauptung auch klingen mag, sogar wenn sie nicht streng
ausgedrückt wird, so möchte der bürgerliche Dichter bürgerlich wirken, modisch,
nach dem Rokoko-Stil bildet er seine Liebeswelt,7 genauso wie seinen geistigen
Horizont, während der völkische Dichter alles auf ein allgemeineres Niveau
erhebt. Ein natürliches Ereignis – die Begegnung von zwei jungen Menschen, der
Liebeszwist – wird durch Konventionalität ausgedrückt, aber mit der Einbeziehung
von Pflanzen betritt man auch die geistige Sphäre, welche gebildet wirkt und
schön angezogen in einen bürgerlichen Anzug, der höflich und schelmenhaft auf
den städtischen Gassen singt. Den natürlichen Inhalt eines Ereignisses hat der
bürgerliche Dichter somit in einen faktuellen und einen expressiven geteilt. Die
Tatsache ist ein reales Ereignis, eine Begegnung mit einem bestimmten Mädchen,
mit einem bestimmten Namen, und die Traurigkeit verbunden mit der Begegnung
mit diesem Mädchen wird vom Dichter mit Genre-Bildern bedichtet, die er −
oxymoronisch ausgedrückt − mit Düften und Farben der Blumen malt, welche
er aus seinem bürgerlichen Millieu kennt. Sogar die Rose, eine in der serbischen
Volksdichtung übliche Blume, bekommt hier konnotative Bedeutungen, um
einen Grad höher als im Volksgedicht. Die Antwort auf die Frage, warum das so
ist, liegt durchaus auf der sozialen Ebene: das was dem Dorf angeboren ist, steht
nicht im Einklang mit der kleinbürgerlichen Umgebung. Aus diesem Grunde
wäre es für die Geschichte der serbischen Lyrik von großer Bedeutung, die Poetik
zu erforschen, welche die Bedeutung von Pflanzen in der Volks- und und in der
künstlerichen Dichtung kennzeichnet. Die These dieser Arbeit liegt gerade darin,
zu zeigen, inwieweit der bürgerliche Dichter die Bedeutungen mit den Elementen
der Volksdichtung erweitert, so wie dort die Bedeutungen von Pflanzen und
Bäumen sind, und somit werden sie zum Bestandteil der künstlerischen Lyrik.
LITERATURЕ
Anger 1963: A. Anger, Deutsche Rokoko-Dichtung, Stuttgart: Metzler Verlag.

Badurina 2000: A. Badurina (ur.), Leksikon ikonografije, liturgike i simbolike zapadnog
7 Ein ähnliches Verfahren wurde auch in der deutschen Poesie des 18. Jahrhunderts bemerkt
(Anger 1963).
125
kršćanstvа, Zagreb: Sveučilišna naklada Liber – Kršćanska sadašnjost.

Beneš 1970: B. Beneš, Svȇtská krámařská piseň. Brno: Universita J. E. Pirkynȇ.
Blečić 2010: П. Блечић, Кап воде их враћа у живот, Блиц, Београд, 28. март, 7.
Čajkanović 1985: В. Чајкановић, Речник српских народних веровања о биљкама,
Београд: Српска књижевна задруга.
Kleut 1995: М. Клеут, Народне песме у српским рукописним песмарицама, Нови Cад
– Београд: Матица српска – Институт за књижевност и уметност.
Latković 1954: В. Латковић, О неким прелазним формама од усмене ка писаној
литератури, Књижевност и језик у школи, I, 1: 4–11.
Marinković 1 1966: Б. Маринковић (прир.), Српска грађанска поезија XVIII и с
почетка XIX столећа. I, Београд: Просвета.
Marinković 2 1966: Б. Маринковић (прир.), Српска грађанска поезија XVIII и с
почетка XIX столећа, II, Београд: Просвета.
Pejović 1968: B. Pejović, Građanska poezija: stilsko-tematske veze i kontinuiteti, Izraz,
XII/11: 436–449.
Stefanović 1992: М. Д. Стефановић, Српска грађанска поезија. Оглед из историје
стиха, Нови Сад – Ваљево: Филозофски факултет – „Милић Ракић”.
Übersetzung aus der serbischen in die deutsche Sprache:

Robert Kovač
126
VINEYARDS AS BORDERED AREAS AND BORDER ENTITIES IN THE SYSTEM
UDC: 634.8:929.653(497.11)”04/14”
Snežana М. Božanić
sbozanic5@gmail.com
VINEYARDS AS BORDERED AREAS AND

BORDER ENTITIES IN THE SYSTEM OF
MEDIEVAL SERBIAN SPACE
In Medieval Serbia, vineyards were donated, traded and bought. Upon assuming the
throne, rulers usually made formal recognition of their heritage that comprised of their
predecessors’ legacies, and the records of those legacies include reference to vineyards.
According to these records, one can easily conclude that the vineyards were designated
as landmarks and bordered areas. There are numerous textual records in which the arable
land-areas are recorded individually or as a part of the legacy, along with the village
itself and other contributions. Their most important owners were, naturally, the ruler, the
church and the nobility. The reasons for respecting landmarks, including the vineyards,
were manifold and multifaceted, but were mostly legal, economic and religious. This
paper will present the abundance of data, including examples that are representative of
those documents that reference vineyards in such contexts.
Key terms: vineyard, landmark, limitation, donation, trade, buying.
„Let us get up early to the vineyards;

let us see if the vine flourish,
whether the tender grape appear.“
(Sol. 7: 12)
Vineyard (lat. vinea, -ae, f; vinetum, -i, n.) is a cultivable land covered with
vines (Divković 1980: 1145).1 The plant belongs to the Angiosperm genus, the
family of Rhamnales – Vitaceae (bug. – лозови). The plant spreads from North
America to Asia (Стефанов–Ганчев 1953: 569–570).
From the earliest times, the vine was significant for both economic and
religious reasons.
Biblical texts bear witness to the importance of vineyards and wines.2
For Jews, the wine is a symbol of “being chosen”, just like they believed
1 In Vuk’s Glossary, vineyard is referred to as „vinogradac“ and „lozje“ (Караџић 1898³: 65,
344).
2 „Vineyard“ as a term occurrs 150 times in The Bible. We find terms such as „wine“ very often,
while „grapes“, „the vinedresser“ and „cluster“ appear less frequently. In this paper, we used The
King James version of The Bible, an English translation issued in 1611.
127
they were as an entity (Софрић 1990: 63–64).

After the forty days-flood, the sons of Noah came out of the ark and
scattered over the earth and their father Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded
to plant a vineyard (Gen. 9: 18–20). The prophet Isaiah bears witness to the
difficulties one faces while cultivating the wine:
“I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.”
(Is. 5: 2)3
The vineyard has its own hedge and wall, it is, as we can see, pruned and
cultivated (Is. 5: 5, 6)4.
In the fifth book of Moses we find, inter alia, the following prohibitions:
“When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes
thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel (Deuter. 23:
24). At this point, parallels can be made with ,,The Agrarian Law” (“selected”
from the legislation of Emperor Justinian). According to Article 58, in case
that one steals ,,someone else’s vineyards or orchard”, they should be beaten
,,deprived of their clothes,” and if they enter only ,,to eat”, they should not be
punished (Благојевић 2007: Art. 58, pp. 69, 149–150). In Dušan’s code (Sofia
manuscript – Art. 150 and Ravanica manuscript – Art. 144), a passer-by is also
allowed “to enter anyone’s vineyard during the day, to pick grapes or fruit in a
scarf and take them home” (Пешикан–Грицкат-Радуловић– Јовичић: 334–337,
400–401).5
The Song of Solomon mentions vineyards on numerous occasions. The
beloved is compared to the “cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi” (Sol.
1:14). Lovers enjoy Nature’s beauty, and thus the beloved says:
“ Let us get up early to the vineyards;
let us see if the vine flourishes,
3 In The Gospel of Mark we read the following lines: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall
around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some
farmers and moved to another place” (Mark 12:1).
4 There is a Serbian proverb that says: “Every vineyard needs a hoe, not a prayer” (Караџић 1900:
No. 638, p. 41).
5 Penalties were meant for individuals picking the grapes into the basket, stealing them by night
or trying to make some wine from the stolen grapes. The punishment depended on the offense.
128
whether the tender grape appears”

(Sol. 7: 12).
Their love is more delightful than wine (Sol. 1: 2) and they will praise it
more than wine (Sol. 1: 4). The beloved’s navel is a “rounded goblet that never
lacks blended wine” (Sol. 7: 2), her breasts are “like clusters of the vine”, her
mouth “like the best wine” (Sol. 7: 8, 9).
Jesus Christ blessed the wine at The Last Supper. It acts as a substitute
for blood and is a crucial part of the Holy Communion (Толстој 2001: 82). In
connection to Christ, the wine is always served on Christmas Eve, as an inevitable
drink of Serbian festive tables.
*
The Histories of Herodotus mention wine and vineyards on many occasions.
According to Herodotus, there were numerous vineyards and olive orchards on
the island of Cyrauis (Херодот 1966 (IV): 195, 321). This way, he emphasizes
the richness of the place. He also mentions that the Persians, in terms of wine,
surpassed the Ethiopians themselves. Kambiz is said to have, among other things,
sent the Ethiopians some Phoenician wine. The king of Ethiopia allegedly made
a speech on the longevity of Persians, claiming that they had to thank the wine
for it and saying that they would not live to be 80 years old were it not for wine
(Херодот 1966 (III): 20, 22: 191–2).
The importance of vine for the ancient Greeks is also clear from the myth
of Dionysus, a god who invented the cultivation of vineyards and winemaking
(Срејовић–Цермановић 2000: 119).6
The beginnings of viticulture in the Pannonian Basin are usually connected
to Emperor Probus – Marcus Aurelius Probus, 232–282 (Циндрић–Ковач 2007:
475). The Slavs settled in parish areas of the Balkans, in river valleys and regions
protected by hills and mountains – regions exquisitely suitable for viticulture.
Numerous existing legends and anecdotes about Saint Sava serve as a good
illustration of how important viticulture was in medieval Serbia. According to
them, it was Saint Sava that taught the Serbs how to cultivate vineyards and make
wine (Чајкановић 1994: 451). One story tells us about Saint Sava and the Devil
planting a vineyard together. Afterwards, they harvested the grapes, put them in
the barrel and poured out the wine (Чајкановић 1994: 451). According to another
legend, Saint Sava blessed the wine, vineyard and all the workers in it: “Bless you
and all of your kind! Let your vines turn into silver! Let the wine-goblets stand
proud bearing the sign of cross! Wherever the wine is drunk, let the cross never
be forgotten”.7
6 The same Greek god is also known by the name of Bacchus (-i, m.), the deity of wine, vineyards,
spring and joy. He is said to have spread the skill of viticulture from Egypt to Thrace and from Spain
to India.
7 http://www.rastko.rs/knjizevnost/usmena/legende_o_savi.html
129
*
However, the most reliable historical source on how viticulture was
important in medieval Serbia are, of course, numerous charters and other diplomatic
manuscripts testifying that the vineyards were donated, traded and bought during this
period, as well as that they were bordered areas, sometimes also used as landmarks.
There are many manuscripts in which the vineyards are recorded individually or as
a part of the gift, along with the village and other contributions.
Serbian medieval charters provide us with the copious data concerning
gifts (donations, contributions). They were typically composed by rulers and
high nobility (Тричковић 1988: 55–74). The charters (grants, letters) were a
way for them to donate to monastery manors and churches. Some individuals
also made smaller donations “for the soul salvation, monk initiation, tombstones
etc” (Мошин 1980: 281–282). The most frequent term used within charters in
such context is “to contribute”, which refers to the donation of movable and
immovable property.8 The rulers had both economic and religious motifs for
donating vineyards to monastery manors. As a matter of fact, in these charters the
vineyards are mentioned more frequently than any other arable land, which led
the experts to different interpretations. According to Miloš Blagojević, the reason
for this is that the vineyards were more expensive than other arable surfaces
(Благојевић 2004: 76)9. In medieval Dubrovnik, wine was considered a food, and
thus the local municipality paid special attention to provide it regularly (Динић-
Кнежевић 1966: 83). Typika (The Monastery Foundation Documents) regulated
how much and on which occasions monks were allowed to drink wine, as well
as its use in religious rites (Новаковић 1912: 347, 352, 353, 354, 355, 365, 367).
The vineyards were often gifted to medieval monasteries by the rulers and
the nobility.
According to Monk Simeon’s Charter to Hilandar Monastery, the oldest
core of Hilandar’s property in the area of Prizren consisted of the following:
villages Neprobišta, Momuša, Slamodraža, Retivlja, Trnie, Retivštica, Trnovac,
Hoča, Druga Hoča, mountain Bogdača, Vlasi, four apiaries and “two vineyards”
(Новаковић 1912: 384 (II) Korablev 1915 No. 3: 377; Соловјев 1926 No. 10: 13;
Зарковић 2002: 58–59). Prince Stefan Nemanjić, the latter Serbian king, donated
more villages, mountains and “vineyards” necessary for monastery’s everyday
life (Новаковић 1912: 385 (II); Korablev 1915 No. 2: 374–375).
The Monastery of St. Apostles Peter and Paul situated at the Lim river
was gifted with Brštanik village with vineyards and ,,all previous boundaries”,
two vineyards in Ston, villages Konjuhovo, Kovač and Vratkovo ,,along with
8 In the Middle Ages, special attention was paid that the “gift” was undisputedly owned by the
donor, all in order to avoid possible disputes in the future.
9 Blagojević concludes that this was the reason why all the vineyards belonging to certain
monastery estates were diligently recorded in numerous charters, while this was not the case with
the fields (Благојевић 2004²: 76).
130
vineyards and people“10. In specifying the aforementioned villages, no other

cultivated or uncultivated land was mentioned.
According to the Charter of the Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus,
Hilandar monastery possessed St. Nicholas metochion ,,along with vineyards and
fields” (Korablev 1915 No. 7: 392)11.
From the charter of the Bulgarian Emperor Constantine Asen to the
monastery of St. George near Skopje, we find out that the following villages,
metochions and churches possessed their own vineyards: Dvigod, Dlbica and
Čreševljani, Pobužda, Glumovo, village Zdunje with hamlets, Sušica with
Popovjani, Gradečnica, village Brod with the metochion, Rečice, a village in
Gornji Polog with an unreadable name, Banici, St. Basil’s metochion, St.
Nicholas’ metochion in Velbužd, Lženi, Barovo, Sinsko, the church of St. John
Chrysostom and Kaluđerovani.12
According to the “General” charter, king Milutin donated three vineyards
to the Hilandar tower in Hrusija: they were in Kruševo, Pest and Loznica.13
The village of Avazgovo under Morozvižd was donated „along with vineyards,
fields, hayfields, pasture lands, summer and winter stables for cattle, a mill, a mountain
and all of prerogatives“ to the monastery of St. George near Skopje.14
Andronicus II Palaeologus, the Byzantine Emperor, donated a church with
vineyards, the village Radejevo with vineyards, St. Nicholas’ church in Ljubena
along with vineyards, and also a vineyard in Pobožda and the one ,,in the valley
of Pureševa” – all to the Hilandar tower in Hrusija15.
Stefan Dečanski, the king of Serbia, donated to the estate of the Holy
Virgin on Ljeviša the following: the village Hočja (Hotča, Hoca) ,,near Luka”,
along with people ,,vineyards and fields” and all the boundaries ,,as they were”
(Яастребов 1881: 362; Новаковић 1912: 638–639 (II); Пурковић 1940: 153;
Николић 1976: 40). Dečanski also donated the church dedicated to St. Cosmas
and Damian in Gornji Polog, along with ,,vineyards and fields” (Яастребов
1881: 363; Новаковић 1912: 639–640 (IX); Пурковић 1938: 19; Јевтић 1987:
326).
10 In 1254–1263, king Stefan Uroš I issued the charter to the Monastery of St. Apostles Peter and
Paul situated at the Lim river (Moшин–Ћирковић–Синдик 2011: № 64, 97, 101, 114, p. 229–230).
The gift, consisting of villages and vineyards, was also confirmed by the Archbishop Arsenije I.
11 In 1292, the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II Paleologus confirmed the possessions on
Mount Athos to Hilandar Monastery (Moшин–Ћирковић–Синдик 2011: № 89, 30, p. 297).
12 In the period from 1258. to1277, the Bulgarian Emperor Constantine Asen confirmed the
previously granted new estates to the monastery of St. George near Skopje (Moшин–Ћирковић–
Синдик 2011: № 74, 19, 23–26, 28–30, 41, 52–54, 60, 63–64, 70, 72).
13 The original charter of King Milutin to Hilandar Monastery (dat. 1303. to 1304; after 1331.)
was not preserved. There are, however, four known transcripts (Moшин–Ћирковић–Синдик 2011:
№ 104, 44, 56, pp. 368, 370).
14 There are three fragments of the charter of King Stefan Uroš II Milutin to the monastery of St.
George near Skopje (Moшин-Ћирковић-Синдик 2011: № 92, 187, 188, p. 325).
15 In 1308, Andronicus II Paleologus donated a tower in Hrusija (Мошин–Ћирковић–Синдик
2011: № 109, 3, 7, 8, 12, p. 406).
131
In May 1334, King Stefan Dušan donated the vineyard Ljubov on Oglednica
to the church of St. Nicholas in Dobrušta (Вујошевић 2005: 51–67)16.
In February 1340, King Dušan gave Hilandar, among other things, the
village of Dragoželja with a small hamlet by the name of Košani and some
vineyards (Новаковић 1912: 409 (II)).
King Dušan gave “the church of St. Nicholas in Vranje to the immaculate
Mother of God in Hilandar”, along with some villages, summer pastures,
vineyards, meadows and mills (Новаковић 1912: 413–416; Соловјев 1927: 107–
115; Марјановић-Душанић 2005: 69–85; Томовић 1993/1994: 45–58).
The village of Koriša, along with the church of St. Peter and hamlets
Pakostino and Busino belonged to the Estate of St. Archangel (Пурковић 1940:
70, 105, 125)17. “The vineyards, land, “kupljenica” (the bought land), fruit,
“črmnica”, mills, fields, forests and mountains” were also attached to it (Шафарик
1862: 273–274; Новаковић 1912: 686 (XXVII); Мишић–Суботин Голубовић
2003: 41). Dušan the Emperor donated Šiklja village in Gornji Polog with two
hamlets to his foundation. The Charter first enumerates the village boundaries,
and then the boundaries of Kruimada and Krsti hamlets (Шафарик 1862: 286).
Kruimada was donated along with the vineyard.18
Despot Jovan Dragaš, his brother and mother donated villages Mokrani,
Makrijevo, Zubovce, Borisov and Gabrovo with ,,landmarks”, meaning with borders
and numerous mountains, hills, vineyards, orchards – all to the Monastery of St.
Panteleimon in Mount Athos (Новаковић 1912: 511 (II), (III), (IV), (V), (VI)).
Prince Lazar gave some villages and numerous vineyards that he “planted
and some of them bought from Crep and Jugdo/ Judgo/ Judko” to Ravanica
Monastery (Младеновић 2003: 59, 98, 117).
Based on the above mentioned, we can, among other things, conclude that
viticulture was a highly developed economy branch in medieval Serbia, that the
vineyards were often donated – sometimes individually, sometimes along with a
village, a group of villages, hamlets, churches and other gifts (arable land).
*
In the Middle Ages, it was customary for a monarch assuming the throne
to confirm the gifts and privileges donated by his predecessors and fathers.
This was also the case with smaller donations made by the extinguished
individuals. The existing charters mention vineyards as a part of the gift on
many occasions.
King Stefan Dušan confirmed the old man Gregory the previously made gift
consisting of St. Peter Church in Koriša, along with all mansions, vineyards, mills,
16 It’s a vineyard on the river Jaglednici near Prizren.

17 The aforementioned settlements were located in the vicinity of Prizren.
18 The hydronims are predominant as its boundaries here: “ the fountain of St. George”, “Suho
blato”, the river “Drim”, “a stream”, “Gavnča fountain” and the river ”Tamna”. Apart from this
rather rich hydrographical situation, two sacral landmarks were also recorded: “the church of St.
Ilija near Suho blato” as well as ,,the church of St.Nicholas” by the creek (Пурковић 1938: 26, 36).
132
prerogatives and ,,perior”. Apart from the term “perior”, diplomatic sources also
mention Greek words περίορος and σύνορον (Новаковић 1912: № 12, 412 (I)).
His son, Uroš the Emperor, confirmed Hilandar the donation previously
made by the Grand Duke Nikola Stanjević, including the Church of St. Stephen
in Konča. The gift consisted of a large number of villages with people, vineyards,
mountains, mills, meadows, along with borders, prerogatives and “the whole
perior” (Новаковић 1912: 445 (II) Korablev 1915, № 65, 530).
In 1406, Despot Stefan Lazarević confirmed his father’s donations
to Tismena and Vodica monasteries, consisting of villages and vineyards
(Веселиновић 2009: 194, 198, 199).
*
The vineyards, along with other goods, were also the subject of trade, all in
the legal process of shaping the final version of certain possessions.19
In the possession inventory of Htetovo monastery we find the information
that two fields were exchanged for „a vineyard“ or „vines“ (Мошин 1980: 279,
284).
From the Charter of St. Archangel we learn that the Emperor Dušan
exchanged Mladen Vladojević’s church dedicated to The Ascension of Christ for
another one „with people, land, vineyards and all prerogatives in the town or
parish” (Шафарик 1862 : 270).
The church of St. Nicholas or Rajko’s church, along with 15 vineyards, was
donated to St. Archangels Monastery (Шафарик 1862: 271; Пурковић 1938: 38).
The vineyards were gained process through the exchange process: four of them
were in Pustice, two in Gabrovac, two in Babištije, one in Kruševo polje, one in
Lipovac, Hinatovac, Drenovac and above Pulša (Мишић–Суботин–Голубовић
2003: 187, 191, 193, 197, 204, 209). Today, in the vicinity of Prizren, we find
meadows and pastures there.
*
In medieval Serbia the immovable property, including vineyards, was
regularly sold and bought.20 The largest buyers and owners were naturally the
rulers, the church and the nobility.
The vineyards bought near Dubrovnik belonged to the monastery of St.
Mary on the island of Mljet (Mikloshich 2006: № XVII, 10; Новаковић 1912: №
VIII, 586 (II); Соловјев 1926: № 24, 25).
19 An exchange or trade is a legal affair conducted between a ruler and an estate (a church or a
monastery) so that the final version of an estate could be formed (Тарановски 2002: 507–509);
Art. 43 D. Z. says: a true gentleman, a king, an emperor or a lady empress should not be able to take
anyone’s property by force, nor should it be sold or traded unless the proprietor is willing to do so
himself (Бубало 2010: Art. 43, p. 173).
20 In this context, Taranovski pays special attention to the immovable property which was not
easily alienated: on the contrary, people did everything they could to keep it – the immovable
property was seen as the foundation of family’s prosperity and thus sold only in emergencies
(Тарановски 2002: 499–505).
133
We learn that in 1278/1279 the abbot by the name of Joanikije was buying
some vineyards for the monastery of St. John the Baptist at Menikejska Gora in
the vicinity of Ser (Живојиновић 2007: 110).21
In September 1323, the abbot Gervasius and the priestmonk Kalinik, both
from Hilandar, bought some vineyards from the peasants in the vicinity of Ser
(Мошин–Пурковић 1940: 49; cf. Живојиновић 1998: 178).
In the mid 14th century, Ivanko Probištitović bought some vineyards and
vineyard land outside the city from the locals, all for the Church of St. John the
Baptist in Štip (Новаковић 1912: 305 (I); Алексић 2009: 69–80).
*
As landmarks (boundary entities, confiners) in the Middle Ages, apart from
vineyards, we find the following: oronyms, hydronyms, dendronyms, plants,
forests, sacred landmarks, abandoned human dwellings, ruins or their rudiments,
all kinds of objects ending with the suffix –ište, transport infrastructure, arable
land and fallows, anthropogeographical landmarks, human dwellings, charters
as legal entities, wefts or poles, as well as uncultivated areas of border land. The
reasons for respecting the landmarks, including vineyards, were manifold and
multifaceted – they were mostly legal, economic and religious. The vineyards
usually appear as landmarks bordering a village, a village with a church, a group
of villages, hamlets, summer pastures and squares (Божанић 2013: 303–305).
Due to the scarce of space and subject’s amplitude, we’ll mention merely the
most representative examples.
„A vineyard“ not far from the road is mentioned in 1198 as a border entity
between monasteries Hilandar and Esphigmenou.22
The third charter of Dečani monastery provides us with a detailed descripton
of the borders limiting Tudoričevci summer pasture. Here we find a vineyard
called Dragoljev acting as a landmark. The description begins and ends with an
entity by the name of „Orao“. Two rivers dominated this region – the Knina and
the Ribnica, as well as one „stream“. We also find „a grand oak“, „an oak“ and
„a walnut tree“ as boundary entities here, which indicates local tree species that
existed at the time. Among other landmarks „Herak’s column“ is mentioned as
well (Ивић–Грковић 1976 DH III (2445–2460)).
According to the charter of Stefan Dečanski, a vineyard called Petrović
situated at the river Drim acted as a border between Kosorić villigae and properties
belonging to Hilandar monastery (Мишић 2004: 3–18).23
Sinainci summer pasture, together with Mount Horugvica, was donated to
St. Archangel estate near Prizren (Шафарик 1862: 296)24. Here we also find „a
21 The monastery was founded in 1275.
22 These information were preserved in the transcript of The Description of Boundaries between
Hilandar Monastery and Esphigmenou (Мошин–Ћирковић–Синдик 2011: 10, № A2-3, 3, p. 73).
23 The charter was issued by king Stefan Uroš III Dečanski on September 6th 1327 in Svrčin.
24 The borders were determined towards the neighboring villages Belo Polje and Istok. The roads
134
vineyard“ acting as a landmark.25

*
While we possess copious information on landmarks in the context of
donating, trading and bying vineyards, the information on vineyards as bordered
areas is rather scarce. Different artefacts were used for bordering the vineyards.
According to king Milutin’s charter to St. George Monastery of near
Skopje, the landmarks of Butelji vineyard were: St. Mary’s church in Butelja,
“Belptišta” and “the road leading to Dobrušane“ (Мошин–Ћирковић–Синдик
2011: № 74, 27-28, p. 320).
The Charter of king Milutin to Hilandar monastery on St. Petka’s cell in
Tmorani, mentions vineyards growing „around the church“, i. e. „the ones planted
by the church“, just like the ones belonging to „the people of the church“, with no
further reference to other existing artefacts.26
According to The First Charter of Dečani monastery, its founder donated
a vineyard with „all its boundaries“. As we learn, it was situated between
„The Great road“, „the water flowing to Dečani“ and „The St. Trinity Church“
(Mikloshich 2006: 92; Ивић–Грковић 1976 DH I (122–124)). Another vineyard
was mentioned as a part of the same donation, along with all its boundaries
consisting of: „the church of St. George“, „The Grand Road“ and „The Red Hill
stream“ (Mikloshich 2006³ 92; Ивић–Грковић 1976 DH I (124–126); cf. Бубало
2007: 221). The border of a vineyard called Harac is also mentioned, it started
from „the road“, from the direction of „The Red Hill“, „across The Grand Road
under The Red Hill“. From there it went down to „The Red Hill field“, ending
at „St. George church“ (Mikloshich 2006: 92; Ивић–Грковић 1976 DH I (129–
131)). Neither The Second nor The Third Charter of Dečani monastery mention
any of this.
*
In the Middle Ages, vineyards were usually enumerated with proper
names. Those were probably the names of people that planted them, their former
owners or the vinedressers that cultivated them at the time. That’s for example
the case with the vineyard of Georgius which was mentioned among the borders
are predominant entities in the first one: “the road to Belo Polje”, “the road leading from Istok”, “the
road to Goino” and “the Preki road to Selce”. In addition to roads, there are numerous hydronyms:
,,the Stream”, “Stubl”, ,,the Fountain “, ,, the Pool” and ,, the Red Creek. We also find “forests” as
boundary entities here. The second border included:,,the fountain Ivovik”, the fountain Leskovik”
and “the Pool “. The following confiners speak of the region’s relief: “the Mountain”, “Vranja
rock”, “Orlanda’s stone”, “Marble”, “the Other Marble”, “the Marble by the summer pasture”.
25 The “Grand road” and “Dragoljevo road” played an important role in local people’s life. The
summer pasture was adjoining the village of Gojno. Hence we conclude that the communication
system was highly developed and the hydrographic situation more than satisfactory.
26 King Milutin gave back St. Petka’s cell in Tmorani to Hilandar monastery. The cell was
temporarily lost during his father’s reign (Мошин–Ћирковић–Синдик 2011: № 93, 16, 17, pp.
332–333).
135
of Gumnište village in Hvosno (Kovačević 1890 3; Jagić 1890: 10–11)27. As

a landmark of Tudoričevci summer pasture that belonged to Dečani, we find
a vineyard called Dragoljev, while Stanoje’s vineyard was a part of the border
limiting Zerzevo village (Ивић–Грковић 1976 DH II (24), (58), DH III (1059-
1060), (2452–2453), (2667)). Kanakʼs vineyards, as we learn, bordered Kupelnik
village with the church (it belonged to St. Archangel monastery), while Hussar’s
vineyard was a boundary entity of Selčani village and Kaloper’s vine is mentioned
in the same context as a confiner of Brodac village with the church (Шафарик
1862: 279, 285, 288). Within the estate of Ravanica we find the following
boundaries: the vineyard of Dionisius for the village called Okopac Gornji,
the vineyard of Dragač for Ljubinje, the vineyards of Šuvainski and Kosanić
for Kamijevo (Младеновић 2003: 59, 61, 117, 119). The charter of Dušan the
Emperor to Hilandar monastery reveals information that Gubavča vineyard was a
confiner of Suhogrlo, while in the charter of St. Eugene the Nun to St. Athanasius’
monastery we find out that the village and the square of Paraćin were bordered by
Prijko’s vineyards (Mikloshich 2006: 123).
*
Since the antiquity, the vine was very significant both for economic and
religious reasons. Biblical texts bear witness to the importance of the vineyards
and wine. In ancient times, the wealth of a place was illustrated and expressed
through the existence of vineyards. In the Middle Ages, their most relevant
owners were, naturally, the ruler, the church and the nobility. The most reliable
historical source on how viticulture was important in medieval Serbia are
numerous charters and other diplomatic manuscripts testifying that the vineyards
were donated, traded and bought during this period, as well as that they were
bordered areas, sometimes also used as landmarks. Upon assuming the throne,
the rulers usually confirmed the gifts of their predecessors and the records of
these gifts mention vineyards as well. There are many manuscripts in which the
vineyards are recorded individually or as a part of the gift, along with the village
and other contributions. The rulers, the monastery estates, as well as medieval
men in general used wine both as a drink and a significant part of religious
ceremonies. The vineyards were sacred places in medieval Serbia. Based on the
above, we can conclude that the tradition of viticulture has existed here ever since
the Serbs settled in the Balkans to the present day.
Abbreviations
Gen. – “Book of Genesis”
Is. – “Book of Isaiah”
Deuter. – “Book of Deuteronomy”
Sol. – Solomon, “Song of Songs”
DH – Charter of Dečani monastery [Dečanska hrisovulja]
27 Gumnište village is situated on the slope of Kopaonik, east from the top called Duhovac
(Урошевић 1990²: 143).
136
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Translated by: Milica Kisić-Božić
139
140
THE OTTOMAN ATTARS AND HERBAL MEDICINE IN 16th CENTURY BALKAN TOWNS
UDC: 615.89:28(497)”14/15”
615.19:28(497)”14/15”
Tatjana M. Katić
The Institute of History, Belgrade
tatjanakatich@gmail.com
THE OTTOMAN ATTARS AND HERBAL

MEDICINE IN 16th CENTURY BALKAN TOWNS*
The attars, owners of specialised shops selling spices, herbs and other medicinal and
cosmetic products, settled in Balkan towns in the second half of 15th and early 16th
century. They brought with them the tradition of Anatolian phytomedicine and medicinal
substances which were at the time widely unknown. Through attar shops, simple and
compound remedies, prepared on the spot by the attars, became commonly available to
townspeople and inhabitants of neighbouring villages. Information about the presence of
attars in certain towns has been partly preserved.in Ottoman census books (defters). Our
paper, based on these and other available sources, aims to shed light on the role which this
trade had in spreading oriental culture in the fields of medicine and food.
Key terms: Ottoman Empire, the Balkans, attar, macun, pharmacy, herbs, spice.
The establishment of Ottoman rule in the Balkans in 14th and 15th century
signifies, in many ways, a turning point in the social and political development
of medieval societies in the region. However, radical changes, particularly
in political and partly in social structures, as well as the introduction of a new
state religion, did not notably affect a deeply rooted folk traditions and culture,
which includes herbal medicine. With the arrival of the Ottoman Turks, Balkan
phytomedicine was enriched with new oriental content, which has been preserved
to this day in the areas where Ottoman rule lasted longer, whereas in other parts
it has been almost forgotten.
The Ottoman Turks and the Balkan peoples inherited the same, ancient and
early Byzantine medical traditions which stemmed from Asia Minor.1 Experience
and knowledge of the healing properties of herbs developed over centuries, being
improved through constant mutual contacts and numerous intermediaries. Since
the appearance of the first pharmacopoeia of the ancient world in 1.AD, written
in Greek by Dioscorides, a physician in the Roman army, books on the same
*
This paper is part of the project From Universal Empires to Nation States. Social and political
changes in Serbia and the Balkans (No 177030) supported by the Ministry of Education, Science
and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.
1 The father of medicine, Hippocrates (island of Kos 5th-4th century BC), Dioscorides (Anazarbus
1st century BC), the founder of pharmacy as a scientific discipline and Galen (Pergamon 2nd century
BC), the biggest name in ancient medicine, were all from Asia Minor.
141
Tatjana M. Katić
and similar topics continuously circulated throughout the Mediterranean.2 Such

manuals were also well known in Serbia, as well as in the Seljuk, later Ottoman
Anatolia.3
Herbs used for healing were usually indigenous “domestic” species.
However, “exotic” species, originating from eastern Mediterranean coasts, Arabian
Peninsula, Persia and India which were brought to Europe since the Roman period,
were not unknown. During the Byzantine era, thanks to increasingly intense spice
and scented oil trade, new medicinal plants arrived to the Balkans.4 Initially they
were available in coastal towns, where the first pharmacies had been opened,
having been recorded in historical sources from the second half of 13th century.5
It is still unknown whether apothecaries existed in towns of medieval Serbia, with
the exception of one in Kotor, which was first mentioned in 1326 (Катић Р. 1958:
175). Despite there being no written sources about this, it is reasonable to assume
that places selling spices, oils, tea-mixtures, dyes and other medicinal, cosmetics
or painting materials existed in large economic and trading centres within the
Balkan Peninsula. However, whether these products were occasionally sold in
markets or regularly in specialised shops, such as those in the Byzantine capital of
Constantinople or towns in Seljuk Anatolia, remains an assumption. Nonetheless,
it is a fact that imported medicinal substances were known to specific groups
of people and used in practice by educated physicians.6 Empiric physicians,
folk healers and herbalists were principally familiar only with herbs from their
immediate surroundings. Their only encounters with educated medicine occurred
in big towns, especially mining settlements like Srebrenica, which housed in 15th
century educated physicians along with folk healers (Ковачевић-Којић 2007:
223).
The first direct testimonies on the presence of drugstores in Balkan towns
date from the Turkish period. They come from Ottoman cadastral surveys, which,
sadly, are only partial for the reason that registering the occupations of townsmen
2 Better known by Latin title De Materia Medica, this piece by Dioscorides was transcribed and
expanded many times. This work and the work of Galen became available to the Islamic world in
the mid 9th century, when the oldest known translation to Arabic was composed in Baghdad. Since
then, several Arabic versions have been put together: one in Spain in the 10th century, numerous
ones in Anatolia from the 11th till 13th century and others (Yildirim 2013: 2–4).
3 About research of written sources regarding Serbian medieval medicine see Bojanin 2012: 9–13,
16–20. About Anatolia in detail Baytop 1985: 56–58, 67–70.
4 The main spice trade port was Alexandria, from where St. Sava brought balm oil, agarwood and
various other “mild-scented Indian aromatics” during his trip around the eastern Mediterranean in
1234–1235 (Бојанин 2012: 26). For the Byzantine spice trade see McCabe 2009.
5 In 1230s, the Ragusans concluded several trade agreements with Venice, that enabled them to
buy spices in Mediterranean ports on their own, which had an influence on the increase of these
products in the Balkan Peninsula. The perimeters of the Ragusa (Dubrovnik) trade spread east over
time, only to reach Goa in India in the 16th century (Mirkovich 1943: 178–183).
6 The majority of physicians were foreigners who would supply themselves with medicine in
Dubrovnik before arriving in Serbia (Катић Р. 1958: 175). As an example of knowledge and usage
of relatively unusual medicines, such as the Egyptian mummy, in the fifteenth-century Belgrade,
see Бојанин 2013.
142
was not the enumerator’s duty; usually only personal and patronymic names were
registered, and occupations were more often listed for Muslims, less frequently for
Christians. This explains why no data about these shops, predecessors of today’s
pharmacies, exists for some large towns, yet does for substantially smaller ones.
Merchants selling herbs, spices and other medicinal substances were
known as attars. The name derives from Arabic word “ıtır” meaning scented,
aromatic plants. In Turkish, the word attar was modified into aktar, so it is found
more often in this form today. The most comprehensive translation would be
“druggist”, but it can also be translated as: herbalist, spice vendor (regardless of
whether it refers to a wholesaler or retailer), pharmacist, perfume vendor etc. The
diversity of translations comes from the range of the assortment of goods the attar
shops sold. Nonetheless, attars were not only merchants; they possessed expertise
about the products they were selling meaning they would also recommend and
create medicines for certain diseases. For that reason, they were of importance to
the Ottoman army, thus being obligated to go to war, along with other craftsmen.7
The attars of Bursa, the old Ottoman capital, regularly took part in all Ottoman
military campaigns (Düzbakar–Ercan 2006: 20).
The Ottoman druggist, in general, belonged to the most educated
professional groups of the Empire. They had knowledge in many fields: medicine,
chemistry8, botany and astrology.9 Some of them were famous calligraphers and
poets (Düzbakar–Ercan 2006; Elazar 2010). Early on, differentiation among the
attars began, for the reason that some specialised in the production of pastes
and pastilles, named macuns, while others produced creams, opiates etc. Evliya
Çelebi, a renowned Turkish traveller from the 17th century, wrote of numerous
specialised attar groups in Istanbul, among which were sellers of medicinal
pastes – mâcunciyan, herbs – attaryan, tonics – esnaf-ı meşrubât-ı devâ, rose and
other fragrant waters – gülâbciyan, creams for external uses – esnaf-ı edhan-i
edviye, aloe and ambergris – anberciyan, opium, hashish and other narcotics –
afyonciyan (IA 1958).
Attar shops supplied the townspeople with medicaments, while hospitals
usually bought ingredients with which the hospital pharmacists made their own
concoctions.10
7 Artisans, other than attars, that were recruited to serve in the Ottoman army were: bakers,
cooks, barbers, grocers, blacksmiths, saddlers, boot makers, candle makers and others. They were
commonly known as orducus (Tur. ordu, military, army), and they were chosen from members of
guilds of Istanbul, Edirne, Bursa, and, if necessary, other cities.
8 Druggist Sani, born in Edirne, came from an attar family. He lived in Istanbul where he was
known for being a good physician. He studied chemistry, both in theory and in practice. He lost his
life whilst conducting an experiment in 1592 (Düzbakar–Ercan 2006: 24).
9 Astrology had a great influence in medieval and early modern medicine. Physicians of that time
believed that internal organs and the balance of body fluids depended upon zodiac signs, so some
attars created their own astrological calendars (Düzbakar–Ercan 2006: 21). Also, Balkan medical
manuals, “lekaruše”, written in Old Church Slavonic and Ladino i.e. Judeo-Spanish, contain
numerous instructions of a similar nature (Бојанин 2012; Elazar 2010).
10 Following Byzantine tradition Seljuk Turks opened numerous hospitals in Anatolia in the first
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Tatjana M. Katić
Not long after the Ottoman conquest, the first attar shops were opened in
Balkan towns, especially in those that were seats of sancaks or kazas, or large
mining centres. These places were inhabited by Turkish officials, merchants and
artisans, who were already accustomed to using attar goods. The attars spread
through the Balkans in pace with the Ottoman conquests, firstly appearing in towns
in Thrace, Macedonia and Bulgaria, later on the territory of today’s Serbia and
Bosnia. The earliest data for Serbia dates from the 1490s, when a macuncu named
Hamza was registered in the town of Niš (Бојанић 1983: 162). Macuncus were
the makers of healing pastes (macuns) and bonbons, which were confectionery
items. Pastes were usually made on a base of oil, honey, beeswax, olive oil
or various resins. Besides this, plums, garlic, bread, cinnamon, sandalwood,
musk and other things were used in the process of preparation, depending on
the purpose. However, the structure was a secret. Macuns were used to relieve
haemorrhoids, constipation, stomach gases, melancholy, paralysis, migraines and
many other illnesses (Žunić–Mašić 2015: 63).
A considerably larger amount of data about the attars can be found in
defters from the 16th century. For example, in Sofia in the 1540s, from a total
of 1050 registered taxpayers, there were eleven attars and one macuncu, all of
which were Muslims (BOA, TD 236, 6, 11-13, 17, 26). Given the large number
of attars, we suppose this macuncu only made bonbons and sweets, not medicinal
products.
In the 1560s censuses, many attar shops were registered in Skopje –
thirteen (Соколоски 1984: 29–36, 40–43, 48, 53) and in Thessaloniki – fourteen
(Стојановски 2002: 36–37, 40, 47, 77–79). Half of the total number of attar
shops in Thessaloniki was owned by Muslims and the other half by Jews, which
is understandable considering that 5154 Jewish taxpayers were registered in
the town at the time. (Stojanovski 2002: 95). There were Jewish attar shops
in Sarajevo also, from the second half of the 16th century right until 1941. The
symbol of the Sarajevo herbalists was rue or herb-of-grace (lat. Ruta graveolens),
which was believed to protect from spells and evil, as the shape of the leaves
looks like a hand with five fingers, an old Semitic symbol. This medicinal, yet
at the same time poisonous plant, was used as a sedative in case of hysteria,
insomnia, mental illness, calming crying children in the night etc. (Žunić–Mašić
2015: 63).
There were herbalists in other towns in the mid-16th century, but they
weren’t documented because of the enumeration practice mentioned earlier
on. For that reason, for example, there were no registered attars in the 1540s
half of the 13th century, which had separate dispensaries. The Ottomans founded their first hospital
in Bursa in 1399. Judging by its vakıfname, it contained special rooms for production and storage
of medicaments called “workshop for the production of macuns” - Meâcin Kârhanesi (Yıldırım
2010: 273). Experts on herbal medicine (aşşabân), makers of syrups, solutions and suspensions
(şerbetîyân), as well as cream, pastille and tablet-makers (saydalân) all worked there (Baytop 1985:
66).
144
and 1560s in Prizren, a prominent town in Ottoman Rumelia and the seat of
the sancak of the same name. Only in 1591 did an enumerator list that a certain
Hasan from mahalle Old mosque (formerly church of Our Lady of Ljeviš), was
an herbalist by occupation (Pulaha 1983: 510). In addition to that, according to
the defter of the sancak of Selanik (Thessaloniki) dating from 1568/69, among
1070 taxpayers in Siderokapsa mine there were no attars (Стојановски 2002:
184–190), while in the smaller Kučajna mine in the Smederevo sancak, among
400 taxpayers in 1560 there was one attar (BOA, TD 316, 107). In the same year
in the sancak of Smederevo another eight attars were listed, four in Belgrade and
four in Smederevo (BOA, TD 316, 161, 162, 355, 356). All of the aforementioned
druggists were Muslims; one of them emphasised to have arrived from Anatolia,
which is an illustrative example of the direct contact of Anatolian and Balkan
culture. Attar named Şucaa lived in one of the mahalles in the Smederevo
fortress (BOA, TD 316, 162), and owned a shop in the bazaar in the varoş of
Smederevo.11 The merchandise of his as well as other drugstores in Smederevo
and Belgrade were certainly not completely unknown to the upper classes of
the town’s population, who, thanks to the merchants from Ragusa (Dubrovnik),
had already had the chance to try oriental spices even before the arrival of the
Turks.12 However, the usage of imported herbs become more common in Balkan
cuisine and folk medicine only after entering the Ottoman cultural sphere and the
introduction of new foods, such as rice.13 A good example of this is saffron, an
essential part of pilaf, steamed rice dish. There was no mention of saffron until
1485, when it was first found in Ragusan sources as a commercial item acquired
in Kosovo, in the surrounding of Peć (zafrano di Pecchio). Ottoman law from the
beginning of the 16th century stated the price of saffron, as well as the fact that
tenth of the produced amount belonged to the state treasury (Зиројевић 1989:
79). As a medicine, saffron was used to promote eruption of measles, cause mild
sweating, calm the nerves and lull to sleep (Катић Т. 2006: 266).
Attar shops sold hundreds of different products, mainly of plant origin
– dried plant parts (leaf, root, flower, seed, fruit), essential oils, floral waters,
vegetable fats, resins and gums. A smaller fraction of attar goods consisted of
substances of mineral and animal origin: clay, white lead14, alum15, sal ammoniac16,
11 For more details on the Smederevo bazaar, its crafts and shops see Катић С., Поповић 2013.
12 A Ragusan community in Smederevo, for example, existed before and after the Turkish
conquest. From 1515 to 1519 merchants from Dubrovnik established fourteenth trade companies in
Smederevo (Поповић 1970: 145–146).
13 As rice was one of the most important foodstuffs in the Ottoman Empire, its production was
organised and supervised by the State. After the Ottoman conquest of Serbia, rice production started
in the valleys of Nishava and Toplica (Амедоски 2007: 139–140), in the surroundings of Đakovica
(Зиројевић 1989: 78), in the North Banat (Катић С. 2003: 159), and probably in some other areas.
14 A white powder used for making glue, face powder and dental fillings.
15 It was applied as an astringent in treatments for internal bleeding, chronic dysentery and
diarrhoea; dissolved in water it was used for gargling in case of scarlet fever and other infections.
16 Ammonium chloride was used for making cough syrups.
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musk17, gelatin, ambergris18 and others.

Drugs of plant origin which could be acquired in attar shops were mostly
well known in Balkan medical practice, at least in circles of educated physicians.
This was documented in the Hilandar Medical Codex and preserved manuals.19
However, this knowledge only became available to a wider circle of townspeople
through the attars, as is evident from taking Turkish names for some plants –
pelin (wormwood) and salep.20
Ottoman druggists brought new ways of using already known medicinal
herbs, masterwort, liquorice, common agrimony, angelica and many more.
Masterwort (Peucedanum ostruthium), known in Anatolia as Sultan grass (sultan
otu), was considered, even in ancient times, a magical plant which cures all
illnesses. In medieval monasteries it was used as a universal cure for open wounds,
liver diseases, bladder stones, coughs etc and as a spice for food and drinks. It
had a wide use in the Ottoman Empire too; from the name it is evident that this
plant was extremely valued. Essential oil was used for external purposes in case
of skin irritation, but decoctions and tinctures made from roots were taken orally
in order to stimulate urination and menstrual bleeding, as well as against gas and
asthmatic coughing. Liquorice or licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) was mostly used
for expelling phlegm from the lungs and relieving gastritis. Even today in south-
eastern Anatolia sherbet from the root of liquorice is made; it is used as a remedy
for bronchitis or well chilled as a refreshing drink. A tonic made from the leaves
and flowers of common agrimony (Agrimonia eupatorium) is recommended
in case of diarrhoea, internal and external bleeding and leukorrhea. A greater
concentration of the plant in tonic is used for clearing mucus and as a gargle in
case of severe inflammation and aphthae. Warm decoction from angelica seeds
(Archangelica officinalis) is considered a good remedy for the preservation of the
placenta and to stop menstrual bleeding. A stronger decoction was used to stop
shivering and chills and a tincture in case of a spasmodic cough (Катић Т. 2006).
After falling under Ottoman rule, other oriental herbs besides aforesaid saffron:
sesame, black-cumin, cumin, coriander, mustard, nutmeg, anise, cardamom, rose and
others quickly found their way into Balkan cuisine. Sesame (Sesamum indicum) was
abundantly used in cuisine in the form of seed, oil and paste commonly known as
tahini. Dried rose buds (Flos Rosae) and rose water were used in the preparation of
17 A glandular secretion of male musk deer, having a strong odor and used in perfumery.
18 Undigested intestinal contents of the sperm whale with a pleasant scent, which was gathered
on the coasts of China, Japan, Madagascar, Java and Sumatra. Widely used throughout the Ottoman
Empire for strengthening the heart, appetite and in case of erectile dysfunction. It was taken as a
pastille (macun), or as a beverage made by cooking a granule of ambergris the size of a lentil in
coffee (Baytop 1985: 83).
19 In detail see Бојанин 2012.
20 The leaves and flowers of wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) were used in the production of
tonics which relieve stomach and gallbladder problems, improve the appetite, aid digestion, help
expel worms, lower fever and induce menstruation. Powder from the root of salep (Orchis mascula)
served, like today, in the preparation of a thick and sweet healthful beverage which beneficially
affects the airways, soothes coughs, diarrhoea in children and also serves as an aphrodisiac.
146
cakes, sweet beverages and jams, while rose fat was utilized in cosmetics.21 Sesame
also had a cosmetic use: tea made from sesame seeds was used to darken hair colour.
The attars, however, prescribed the same tea for regulating menstrual cycles, whereas
sesame oil, with added ginger, helped against arthritis and rheumatism. Orally, this
oil worked as a laxative and against diabetes. Also, herbalists recommended rose fat
as a remedy; due to its antiseptic properties it was used to cure inflammation of the
eyes, throat and tonsils (Катић Т. 2006).
The price of oriental spices and herbal remedies, which was certainly lower
than in earlier periods, undoubtedly had an influence on their greater use. The
reason for this decrease in price is that the commercial trade for the most part took
place inside the Ottoman Empire where internal customs were not implemented.
The majority of herbal drugs in attar shops originated from Anatolia and the
Levant, meaning they were not expensive imported products. For example,
labdanum, an herbal resin, came from Crete, styrax from coastal regions of south-
western Anatolia, tragacanth gum from the mountains of Anatolia, turpentine
from the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean and scammony from around Izmir.
Labdanum was used in the production of perfumes, as well as in medicine for
making casts and for disinfection by fumigation. The gathering of labdanum was
mainly done by Cretan monks, who would, during hot summer days, collect oily
resin from the leaves of the shrub Cistus creticus using rakes with leather straps
instead of teeth. Another method was to scrape resin from the fur of sheep and
goats that grazed nearby. Turkmens produced styrax by peeling and pressing,
or boiling the bark of the Liquidambar orientalis tree found wild in the Levant.
The obtained half-liquid resin would be transported in barrels to Istanbul, Izmir,
Damask and Alexandria. Styrax or Turkish sweetgum would later get exported
to Italy, India and China. It was taken orally for expelling mucus, or externally,
mixed with olive oil for curing scabies. Tragacanth gum, an excretion of the
Astragalus Tragacantha shrub, was used to cure coughs, diarrhoea and burns
and as an excipient to combine different ingredients into pastes and pastilles.
Turpentine, resin from the Pistacia terebinthus tree, was used in a solid, gum
like state in the shape of a grain, as well as a liquid oil. Turpentine tablets had a
mild stimulatory effect on the function of the kidneys and uterus, while oil had a
significantly stronger effect. As a result of its use, urine would smell of violets;
it was given to children in order to get rid of intestinal worms. Scammony, a
resinous excretion of the root of Convolvulus scammonia, also produced by
Turkmens, was used to detoxify the body. Because of its potent effect, it was
generally used in a combination with other purgatives, as emulsion with sugar or
sweet almonds (Катић Т. 2006).
Attar shops sold spices, herbal medicines, perfumes and cosmetic products.
However, some of them served as a gathering place for the Muslim urban elite
21 Rose fat and rose water were obtained by distilling flowers through water vapour. Three to
three and a half tons of flowers were needed to make one kilo of fat or half a kilo of water.
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Tatjana M. Katić
craving “forbidden” pleasures. The sixteenth-century Ottoman writers recorded

that many attars secretly sold wine and narcotics and that many members of the
upper class tended to gather there for learned conversation and “drowning in
wine and opium” (Düzbakar–Ercan 2006: 22).
As predecessors of modern pharmacies, attar shops had a considerable
influence in spreading health culture throughout the Balkans. Advice, given to the
population by Muslim and Jewish herbalists, was based on religious hygiene rules,
as well as centuries-old medical traditions of Anatolia and the Mediterranean.22
Attar shops also had a deep impact on Balkan cuisine that is most obvious in
those regions which remained within the borders of the Ottoman Empire for the
longest period of time.
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IA 1958: “Attar, attarlar“, Istanbul Ansiklopedisi vol 3, Istanbul: Tan Matbaası.
McCabe 2009: А. McCabe, Imported materia medica, 4th–12th centuries, and Byzantine
pharmacology, in: M. Mundell Mango (ed.), Byzantine Trade 4th–12th Centuries:
The Archeology of Local, Regional and International Exchange. Papers of
the Thirty-eighth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, St John’s College,
University of Oxford, March 2004, Aldershot: Ashgate: 273–292.
Mirkovich 1943: N. Mirkovich, Ragusa and the Portuguese Spice Trade, Slavonic and
East European Review, American Series Vol. 2, No. 1, March: 174–187.
Pulaha 1983: S. Pulaha, Popullsia shqiptare e Kosovës gjatë shek. XV-XVI, Tiranë: 8
Nëntori.
Yildirim 2013: R. V. Yildirim, Studies on De Materia Medica of Dioscorides in the
Islamic era, Asclepio. Revista de Historia de la Medicina y de la Ciencia 65 (1),
enero/junio 2013: 1–7.
DOI: 10.3989/asclepio.2013.07.
Žunić–Mašić 2015: L. Žunić, I. Mašić, Roots of Pharmacy Practice in Bosnia and
Herzegovina from the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Period: Attars’ Mission
for Pharmaceutical Care, Materia Sociomedica, v 27 (1), February: 63–65. DOI:
10.5455/msm.2014.27.63-65.
149
Tatjana M. Katić
150
MEDICINAL RECIPE BOOK FROM THE MONASTERY OF GODOVIK
UDC: 002:615.89(497)”17/18”
Nedeljko V. Radosavljević
The Institute of History, Belgrade
nedeljko_radosavljevic@yahoo.com
MEDICINAL RECIPE BOOK FROM

THE MONASTERY OF GODOVIK
Abstract
In the late 18th and early 19th century medical knowledge based on different
traditions, in addition to oral transmission (healers, herbalists), was written down
in special collections known as ljekaruše (medical recipe manuscripts). These
medical manuals could have been part of a larger collections containing prayers,
songs, toasts, recipes for making paints and other texts or they could have been
separately written. In Slavic territories of the Balkans under the Ottoman rule,
medical recepies were usually written in monasteries or church centers, as the
only significant literacy centers at the time. Their distribution was wide, both in
Serbian, as well as in the Bulgarian countries.
The Godovik medical manuscript was created as a part of the Godovik
Codex, in the monastery Godovik near Požega, in the second half of the 18th
or early 19th century. Like the whole Godovik Codex, it was mostly written in
the Serbian vernacular language some part of it in the Church Slavonic alphabet
and language. The medical part of manuscript contains recipes for preparing and
the use of medicaments for both human and veterinary medicine. These skills
were based on various medical traditions (folk, Ottoman, and to a small extent
European). The Godovik medical manual includes recipes for the preparation
of healings using plant, animal and mineral ingredients, as well as instructions
for their use. The above-mentioned ingredients were usually combined. Plants
and herbal components were used in making the twenty-seven out of forty-one
medicament. They were based on herbs, parts of other plants, including trees
(root, leaf, tree juices) edible products from field and fruit crops as well as products
with other qualities (oil, hemp seed, tar, pitch). Drugs were produced in different
forms. Sometimes the medicine was a liquid or a mixture for oral use, but in most
of the cases it was a mixture of grounded ingredients (powder) or balm, made in
some other way, for treating wounds. Each recipe included instructions for use.
The amount of each ingredient is expressed in measurement units common at the
time (ise, dram ...). Remedies were made in common household containers, such
as mortar (stupa).
The content of the Godovik manuscript is similar to other medical manuals
from the same time. All of them as much as this manual are valuable sources for
the study of history of medicine and using herbs and plants for healing purposes
in Serbian countries during the Ottoman rule.
151
152
THE TRADITION OF CULTIVATING VARIETIES OF LOCAL FRUITS IN SERBIA
UDC: 634.1(497.11)
634.1:39(497.11)
Natural History Museum, Belgrade
aleksandra.savic@nhmbeo.rs
THE TRADITION OF CULTIVATING VARIETIES OF

LOCAL FRUITS IN SERBIA: IMPORTANCE, HERITAGE
AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY*
Serbia is rich in fruit species and varieties. In our region there are both wild fruit trees as part
of natural populations and orchard trees. In Serbia there are numerous old autochthonous
and traditional varieties of continental-type fruits (apples, pears and plums), but this
gene pool is under a threat of irrevocable disappearance due to introduction of new
commercial varieties and modernization of agriculture. One of the conservation methods
is in situ, within the village homesteads in form of cultivated trees, and the other method
is institutional – through gene banks and plantations. For Serbs fruit is important not only
as food but also as medicine, and it was once used in chants, magick and custom ritual
practice.
Key terms: Serbia, fruit farming, diversity, autochthonous varieties, conservation, organic
food, tradition, heritage.
1. Serbia – biogeographic habitat characteristics suitable for fruit

farming
Soil and climate conditions in Serbia are suitable for fruit farming, and
various species and varieties have been farmed for centuries. Fruit farming is
facilitated by temperate-continental climate, suitable geographic position, soil
composition, relief, exposition, geological structure, presence of river systems,
rich vegetation. Due to the optimal distribution of precipitation, in Serbia it is
possible to grow crops for over 200 days per year at two thirds of agricultural
land, placing it in the group of European countries with suitable soil resources.1
The region of Serbia is also characterized by high genetic, species and ecosystem
diversity, as Serbia represents one of six centers of European biodiversity.2
*
This paper is the fruit of research undertaken as part of the project Микроморфолошка,
фитохемијска и молекуларна истраживања биљака – систематски, еколошки и применљиви
аспекти (No. 173029) [Micromorphological, phytochemical and molecular studies of plants – a
systematic, ecological and applicable aspects]. The project is supported by the Serbian Ministry of
Education, Science and Technological Advancement.
1 http://www.mpzzs.gov.rs/wp-content/uploads/datoteke/razno/4827014.0116.30-1.pdf as on date
July 22nd 2015.
2 According to the adopted Strategy of agriculture and rural development for period 2014-2024,
Serbia has 5,06 millions of hectares of agricultural land, and 71% is cultivated as fields, orchards
153
Regarding the diversity of flora, Serbia is one of potential global centers of plant
diversity, with a high percentage of representation of endemic species (Balkan,
local and stenoendemics).3 Considering the favorable aspects of natural resources
and climatic conditions, high biodiversity and relatively healthy ecosystems, it
may be concluded that conditions in Serbia are favorable for organic production
of food, particularly fruit.4
Until the first half of 20th century, fruit production in Serbia was traditional,
with use of old local varieties, mostly inherited from the 19th centuries, but some
even older.
The autochthonous fruit varieties in our region are mostly of unknown
origin. It is assumed that they were transported by migrations of local communities,
which often happened during the history of this area, while some originated
through spontaneous mutations and natural selection, adapting and acquiring new
characteristics (Шошкић 2008: 124). Many varieties of apples and pears, farmed
in our region for several centuries, may still be found in tree stands (for example
Budimka apple and Karamanka pear). During the 20th century, and particularly
just after the Second World War, fruit farming was intensified by formation of
plantation stands, and new varieties were introduced for better crop yield and
economic profit, with intensive use of agro-technical measures. Economic
importance led to farming of introduced fruit varieties from other countries and
faraway places, originated in different conditions but adapted to new ways of
farming (Шошкић 2008: 124).
Due to the high commercial effect, fruit farming in Serbia is dominated
by introduced varieties of fruits, including almost all more important species of
continental fruits: apples, pears, plums, peaches, apricots, walnut, sweet and sour
cherries, hazelnut, chestnut as well as small berry-type fruit (Величковић 2002: 3–7).5
2. Autochthonous native fruit in Serbia
and vineyards while 29% of agricultural land is occupied by natural grasslands (meadows and
pastures). According to results of Agricultural Census in 2012, orchards in Serbia occupy territory
of 163,310 ha, including 60% in plantations and 40% in extensive fruit production. Most orchards
are in the regions of Eastern Serbia (30.51%) and Šumadija (55.11%) as private property. Source:
http://www.mpzzs.gov.rs/wp-content/uploads/datoteke/razno/4827014.0116.30-1.pdf
3 Plant genetic resources in Serbia include a large number of autochthonous varieties of cultivated
plants; it is estimated that local agricultural organizations have been storing around 15,000 samples
of cultivated plants in form of seeds and around 3,500 samples of fruit trees and grapevine from
Serbia and the neighboring countries. The national ex situ collection of plant genetic resources,
governed by Bank of Plant Genes, contains 4,238 samples, while there are around 1,000 wild
relatives of cultivated plants in situ in the wild. Source: http://www.mpzzs.gov.rs/wp-content/
uploads/datoteke/razno/4827014.0116.30-1.pdf
4 Methods of organic production are most commonly used for production of plum, apple and
raspberry. There are also high quantities of certified wild plant species (raspberries, strawberries,
blackberries, apples, blueberries etc.) collected from the wild as self-propagated fruit. Source:
http://www.mpzzs.gov.rs/wp-content/uploads/datoteke/razno/4827014.0116.30-1.pdf
5 Best represented in production are plum with 45.4%, apple with 15%, sour cherry with 9.5%,
raspberry with 6.8%, while tree nuts (walnut, hazelnut, almond) are very poorly represented.
154
Fruit farming in Serbia has a long tradition, as in addition to importance in

human diet, processing and preparing various products and objects, fruit trees are
also part of the natural landscape of our countryside, enriching and adorning the
rural areas. The old fruit is also part of intangible heritage, tradition and customs,
as well as our cultural identity (Савић 2014: 4).
Regardless of this, many autochthonous fruit varieties in our area have
been gradually disappearing. There are multiple reasons for this. The village
population farming this type of fruit is getting older. Young people are migrating
from villages to cities in increasing rate. The globalization of food market is
intensive, and there are also changes in customers’ preferences. In addition,
intensification of agriculture leads to introduction of new, “more attractive”
varieties with longer shelf life and therefore easier to transport, important from the
economic standpoint. As the autochthonous assortment of fruit trees is presently
mostly found in village homesteads, with individual, neglected and old trees,
there is a realistic danger of losing certain genotypes (Мратинић 2000: 134).6
Today it is difficult to find an old local variety of apple, pear or plum
in the village barnyards and orchards. At the same time, these autochthonous
fruit varieties are carriers of favorable biological and industrial characteristics
(developed bole and crown, size and quality of fruits, time of harvest and
productivity, color of fruit skin, time of flowering, resistance to diseases and pests
etc.) that may be used as significant starter material for forming new varieties
(Шошкић 2008: 124). One of the more important characteristics of these fruits
is their biological activity and presence of antioxidants favorable for human diet.
These varieties are also gene donors to new and freshly derived varieties.7
The fruit trees of this type are mostly characterized by high bole and
imposing crown. They may live to an old age, producing high amounts of fruit
throughout their lives. As an important part of the ecosystem, crowns of such
well-developed trees release high amounts of oxygen during the photosynthesis,
positively influencing the microclimate of a certain area, mediating the
temperature differences, particularly at times of summer heat. The roots of these
trees are deep-reaching and in steep terrain prevent soil erosion. The fruit trees
are also habitat and food source for animal species (birds, bees, insects, game
animals) (Савић 2014: 4).
The cultivated fruit originated from wild relatives from natural populations.
The natural flora of Serbia includes progenitors of certain varieties of pears
(Pyrus communis and Pyrus amygdaliformis), apples (Malus sylvestris, M.
florentina and M. dasyphila), plums (Prunus cerasifera and P. spinosa), cherries
6 This total amount of available genetic material of a species and its relatives is called germplasm,
and it must be aggressively preserved as it is lost through urbanization and intensive agriculture,
causing large-scale damage. Same source.
7 In Serbia there are gene collections or gene banks at fruit institutes and agricultural colleges
(Belgrade, Čačak, Novi Sad) storing the selection material of old and neglected fruit varieties
(Мратинић 2000: 130–133).
155
(Prunus avium), sour cherries (Prunus fruticosa), almonds (Prunus amygdalus),

walnuts (Juglans regia), chestnuts (Castanea sativa), raspberry (Rubus idaeus),
strawberry (Fragaria vesca) etc. Due to their presence in natural populations in
Serbia, it is assumed that their origin (the primary gene center) is in our region
(Мратинић–Којић 1998: 8–10). 8
The progenitors of certain fruit species, including Peach (Prunus persica),
Apricot (Prunus armeniaca), Quince (Cydonia oblonga), Medlar (Mespilus
germanica), White Mulberry (Morus alba), Black Mulberry (Morus nigra) and
Japanese Plum (Prunus salicina), are not found in natural populations in Serbia,
as they are not primarily native but introduced, as introduced species they are
already in cultivation for 200-300 years (Мратинић–Којић 1998: 8–10).
It is assumed that many varieties of fruits, for example plums, have
originated in our region (plum Crvena Ranka or Darosavka from village Darosava
in vicinity of Aranđelovac, Šumadija; plum Dragačevka or Metlaš from village
Dragačevo near Čačak; Piskavac or Okruglica from central Serbia – vicinity of
Kopaonik etc.). This region is still insufficiently studied and there is a need for
systematic scientific research (Савић 2014: 4–6).
The names of autochthonous fruit are vernacular, mostly local names
(Беширевић 2009: 11) that are widely accepted in both everyday speech and
science. However, there are situations where the same variety has one name in
one area and a different name in another area (for example Karamanka pear is
also called Babovača, Bazduhanlija, Karamanlija (Беширевић 2009: 129);
Lubeničarka pear is called Bostanjača, Madžarka plum – Požegača, Tepavac pear
– Tepka, Vodenjača pear – Vodenjak, Jeribasma or Pljuskača, Senabija apple –
Momica, Ječmenjača pear – Pšeničarka etc.)
Fruit is named according to various criteria: time of ripening (Ranka
pear – early ripening; Petrovača apple – at St. Peter’s Day; Jagodarka pear –
when strawberries are also ripe; Ječmenjača pear – when barley is ripe; Ilinjača
pear – at St. Elijah’s Day; Vidovača pear – at St. Vitus’ Day; Miholjača pear
– at Michaelmas; Zimnjača pear – winter pear etc.), locality where the variety
was first recorded or its origin (Tetovka apple – near Tetovo; Budimka apple
– Budimlje valley near Prijepolje; Timočanka apple – vicinity of river Timok;
Kablarka apple – Mt. Kablar; Karamanka pear – Karaman area in Asia Minor,
Stambolka pear – city of Istanbul, Moravka plum – vicinity of river Morava etc.)
or the characteristics of fruit – shape, taste, smell, color, consistency (Mirisavka
pear, Okruglica plum, Kožara apple, Pamuklija apple, Mednjak pear, Ovčiji Nos
apple, Belojabuka, Vodenjača pear, apples Zelenika, Slatkara, Kolačara etc.)
(Савић 2014: 4–47).
During the history, humans have enriched their diet (based mostly on cereals
and vegetables, rarely milk and meat) with fruit and fruit products, increasing the
8 Domestication of wild fruits leads to introduction of new genes into the existing gene pool of
cultivated fruit species, improving their resistance and adaptability to ecological and pathogenous
agents, with decrease in use of chemical means (Мратинић–Којић 1998: 19–20).
156
intake of vitamins, fruit sugars and other useful materials, protecting them from
illnesses (Савић 2014: 4–6). Fruit was also an important as an economic factor in
history of Serbia (export of jam, brandy, prunes and fresh plums in late 19th and
early 20th century).
Apple, pear and plum are traditionally farmed in Serbia and a certain
number of autochthonous varieties were recently rediscovered in the field. It is
believed that there are over 300 genotypes of old apple, pear and plum varieties
in the village homesteads throughout Serbia (Мратинић 2000: 207–211).
2.1. Apple
Apple is the most important deciduous fruit tree in the world. This tree
from rose family (Rosaceae) originated in the western parts of Asia, the foothills
of Himalayas, surroundings of Caspian Sea and Caucasus. During the evolution
and range spread it acquired a very high genetic variability (polymorphism).
Many species of wild crabapple are included in biocoenoses of deciduous forests
of Northern Hemisphere (Шошкић 2008: 297–299).
Wild Crabapple (Malus sylvestris L. (Miller)) is a progenitor of a vast array
of cultivated varieties with a wide range, and a follower species in deciduous forests
of almost all European countries, Eurasia and Asia Minor. It appears in numerous
varieties, forms and biotypes. Apples have been used for more than 5000 years, as
evidenced by carbonized remains of fruit in stilt houses and drawings of apples in
ancient monuments. Apple was known by Ancient Persians, Armenians, Hindus,
Chinese, people of Ancient Greece and Rome, and subsequently the remaining
parts of Europe. Today apples are among the most widespread fruit in the world,
with over 10,000 varieties, grown in all continents (Шошкић 2008: 297–299).9
In our region Apple exists in natural populations and it has been farmed
for centuries, already used by Ancient Slavs. In the Middle Ages it was farmed
in river valleys of Zapadna Morava, Ibar, Rasina, Toplica and Lim, particularly
at manors and monastery grounds (methos) (Мратинић 2000: 13). In the mid-
19th century apple was farmed throughout Serbia, particularly the autochthonous
varieties of unknown origin, extinct or almost extinct today. At the time the most
common varieties were: Petrovača, Ilinjača, Zukvača, Kiseljača, Pamuklija,
Đulabija, Slatkača, Šećerlija, Zimnjača and Jablan (Милићевић 1884: 131–132).
Following the Decision by Minister of General Industry from November
15th 1899, the Kingdom of Serbia published proclamation recommending apple
varieties both generally and in each particular region. The list of varieties includes:
Kolačara, Đula, Streknja, Šumatovka, Kadumana, Resavka, Senabija, Maljenka,
9 Apple is used as healthy food, medicine and refreshment. The nutritionists believe that the
optimal amount of apple fruits in human diet is about 35 kg per year. The apple fruit is characterized
by high water content and balanced ratio of sugars and fruit acids. It contains cellulose, minerals,
vitamins, tannins, enzymes, lipids, aromatic substances etc. It is mostly used fresh, but it may also
be processed in over 20 different products (juice, syrup, baby food, apple cider, brandy, vinegar,
jam, pectin etc.).
157
Podrinka, Kolubarka, Rasinka, Tetovka, Jastrepčanka, Duga, Zaječarka,

Timočanka, Zelenika, Srčika Srpska (Тодоровић 1926: 99–102).
Improvement of fruit farming and spread of apple farms was contributed
to by numerous agricultural schools open in Serbia in the second half of 19th and
beginning of 20th century – First Agricultural School at Topčider (1853), Serbian
Agricultural Association (1869) and Vinery-Fruit School in Bukovo near Negotin
(1891) etc. Plantations of apple saplings, which started to be established in this
period, also played an important role (Мратинић 2000: 8–10).
Between the two World Wars the most common varieties in our region
were local forms Budimka, Kolačara, Šumatovka and Petrovača, which are
still sporadically farmed in Serbia. In this period many new commercial apple
varieties were introduced from Western Europe and North America, and they are
still farmed today (Шошкић 2008: 297–299).
Literature from the beginning of the 20th century states that “our Kolačarka
from Mačva and Šumadija are excellent in quality and shelf life”, “augmented by
another nice shelf-hardy variety found in Serbs of Mohammedan religion in M.
Zvornik and Sahar, under the name Slatka Kolaćuša or Jelifalme”… and “after
them Senabija from all our regions”. Some other old varieties present at that time
were Tvrdaja, Crvena Zelenika, Bela Zelenika, Ljutača, Crvenika, Medenjača,
Đula/Đulaja, Bedrika (Лапчевић 1921: 6–7).
The agricultural journal “Težak” (No. 1, 1910: 85), published under the
patronage by King Petar I in 1910, listed numerous varieties from Šumadija,
in vicinity of Gornji Milanovac: Kolačarka, Đula, Senabija, Streknja, Šarenaja,
Malinka, Ajvalija, Voskovača, Zukva, Tikvaja, Bedrika, Tvrdaja-Češka Devica.
The paper “Naše voće” (“Our fruit”) (Лапчевић 1921: 5–20) includes
the results of his studies on diversity of fruit in Serbia and the origin of their
names, combining the field data with research performed by Vuk Karadžić, Milan
Đ. Milićević and others. Numerous varieties of apple farmed at the time were
listed, including: Avajlija, Arnautka, Banovka, Barizovka, Blagička, Bosnajka,
Budimka and Budimlija, Velikača, Vinogradarka, Vitovača, Voskovača, Vrbovača,
Goveđača, Gurgusovka, Deli Jovanka, Dorbinjka, Despotovčanka, Drinka,
Dunica, Erdeljka, Zaječarka, Zelenika, Zimnjača, Zukva, Ivovača, Kadumanka,
Kovrljača, Kožara, Kolajnača, Kolačara, Kolubarka, Lepocvetka, Ovrljača,
Pamuklija, Perajka, Podrinka, Popadija, Rebeljuša, Resavka, Senabija, Slatkača,
Srčika, Tanjirača, Tetovka, Ciganlija, Šarenika, Šerbetlija, Šećerlija, Šumadinka,
Šumatovka etc. Almost 80% of these varieties have disappeared by this day,
including also: Rebrača, Batulenka, Ovčiji Nos, Prespanka, Šimširka, Funtača
and others (Савић 2014: 14–29).10 These results were collected during the field
10 Intentions for preservation of old assortment of apple were also recognized in the early 20th
century. In his book “Fruit trees, fruit and fruit farming” Dragiša Lapčević cited that “in the last 50
years a lot of fruit trees were planted here, but unfortunately our old fruit, farmed for centuries and
adapted to all areas, fruit of excellent varieties and characteristics, is now scarce. A lot of fruit trees
were imported from the North, and this mania has not finished yet. However, our peasants have a
158
research within the project “Autochthonous fruit of Serbia” and discussions with
homestead owners in villages across Serbia as well as with experts from the
Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade, at the Department of Fruit Science.11
In the village homesteads of Serbia there are still some autochthonous apple
varieties grown in the traditional way, without chemical or any other protection,
including: Petrovača, Šarunka, Masnjača, Krstovača, Slatkuša, Kiseljača, Krupna
Ilinjača, Kožara, Šumatovka, Zelenika, Budimka, Timočanka, Senabija, Kolačara
(Савић 2014: 14–29).
The story of Budimka apple, present in Serbia for over 700 years and
still farmed today, is very interesting. According to Lapčević (Лапчевић 1921:
28–29), Budimka has originated in valley Budimlje at Donji Vasojevići, where
St. Sava has established one of twelve episcopies (in Budimlje it was Temple
of St. George, today Đurđevi Stupovi). Fruit trees were selected in monastery
orchards and distributed further. “The monks from the monasteries Studenica,
Pridvorica, Kovilje, Arilje etc. have certainly brought this apple from nearby
Budimlje and reproduced it first in monastery land and after that throughout the
region” (Лапчевић 1921: 28).
In the traditional culture of Serbs, apple is a symbol of good health and
cooperation, progress, good luck and good wishes. It was given as a present,
used in spells and for medicine. It was used in the rites and magick for fertility,
in rituals of annual cycle as well as in the transition rituals. The apple was placed
on the badnjak by the položajnik; it was used as an invitation to the slava and the
wedding ceremony. Girls used apples to cast spells on boys, and boys threw apples
back at them. In the ritual custom practice of weddings, apple had a particularly
important role. It was placed on top of standards carried by the wedding parade,
it was shot from a rifle, the bride threw it on the roof, it was given to the nakonjče
child… Apple was also planted in graveyards, and fruit was placed on the cross
on the graveyard. As the sacrifice in various ritual situations it was thrown into
water, river or well etc. (Чајкановић 1994: 92–99).
2.2. Pear
Pear is a fruit tree from the Northern Hemisphere and one of the most
widespread continental types of fruit. The oldest paleobotanical records of pear
(Pyrus L.) originated in Tertiary. There is evidence that pear was used alongside
apple since the Neolithic period. It is believed that pear has originated in Western
China, Central Asia and Middle East, and its range gradually spread both eastward
and westward. During the evolution pear acquired a high degree of genetic
variability (Мишић 2002: 76–79).
living need for our whole old fruit farming to be studied, for the old varieties to be reproduced as
much as possible, to stop changing “a bird in the hand for the bird in the bush”, as among these
foreign apples there are very few that could last throughout winter” (Лапчевић 1921: 4–5).
11 Project of Natural History Museum “Research on autochthonous fruit in Serbia” realized in the
period 2002–2008.
159
In the course of time, pear travelled through Iran and Asia Minor, reaching
Europe and other continents. It has been farmed in Europe for over 3000 years. In
the time of Alexander the Great Phocis pears were known, and certain places in
Peloponnesus were named “Apia”, meaning “land of pears”. Pear is mentioned in
works of Homer, Theophrastus, Pliny, Plutarch and Cato, and their writings indicate
that pear was planted by the rich and the privileged (Мратинић 2000: 9–10).
In the 9th and 10th century pear has spread throughout Europe. There is
evidence that St. Clement of Ohrid has spread knowledge on apple and pear
grafting throughout the Balkans. Our medieval monuments mention pear, which
was farmed together with apple in valleys of Ibar, Bistrica, Lab, Zapadna Morava,
Rasina, Lim, Toplica, Timok, as well as in manors and monastery land (methos),
and later also in land owned by ordinary people (Мратинић 2000: 13).
The Archbishop Danilo II (in the 13th century) planted pear in monastery
land and other areas suitable for fruit farming. At the time most varieties were
sweet-flavored: Medunak, Slatka Đula, Tamjanika, Solanka (Мратинић 2000:
13). During the Ottoman rule the varieties originating in Asia Minor had spread
greatly across our region, including: Karamanka, Jeribasma, Bergamot (brought
from Bergam in Asia Minor), Takiša etc., while in the region of Vojvodina
European varieties were grown under the influence of northern neighbors
(Мратинић 2000: 13–14).12
Although it is believed that pear originated in Asia, most of its domestication
was performed in Europe, where it lives in natural populations (Булатовић–
Мратинић 1996: 473). Today there are about 8000 recorded pear varieties, but
selection for new varieties with even higher-quality fruit is ongoing.13 Presently
Williams pear is considered to be the highest-quality pear in the world,14 so it is
intensively grown throughout the world and it is also the leading variety in Serbia
(Мратинић 2000: 165).
Lapčević (Лапчевић 1921: 20–31) listed numerous pear varieties in Serbia
of his time, including: Arapka, Bazva, Beganica, Beogradka, Bigarka, Bljuzgača
(Vodenjača), Bostanka, Brašnjavka, Bronzara, Vidovača, Visuljak, Golubinjka,
Divljaka, Dugodrška, Dugulja, Zimnjaka, Zvorniklija, Zečica, Žutica, Ilinjača,
Indžirica, Jablan, Jagodnjača, Jesenjača, Ječmača, Kaluđeci, Kamenjarka,
Karamanka, Korovača, Kraljica, Krompiruša, Lončara, Maslinka, Medenjača,
12 The 17th and 19th century are the Golden Age of European pear farming (France, England,
Belgium, Italy, Russia), when numerous varieties, grown even today, were formed by cross-
breeding or domestication of natural populations. In a forest near Clion, France, monk Leroy has
found a spontaneous seedling in 1760. This variety is still grown throughout the world under the
name Curệ.
13 Pear fruit is juicy, with pleasant aroma and high biological value. It contains high percentage
of water, minerals, vitamins, sugars, organic acids, cellulose, tannins, stone cells (sclereids) and
other useful substances. It is consumed fresh throughout the year due to developed preservation
methods, but is also an excellent raw material for processing (juice, jam, compote, baby food, high
cuisine, brandy etc.).
14 Williams pear is an old English variety, discovered as a spontaneous seedling in 1796.
160
Mirisavka, Miholjača, Zvorniklija, Takiša, Tamnjanika, Tepavac, Topčiderka,

Džundžulejka, Šerbetlija, Šumadinka. Additional expert studies performed
in 1996 in Serbia have shown presence of additional autochthonous varieties,
including: Jesenja Pološka, Žutica, Devojačka Duša, Jelica, Opadalica, Beoce,
Jereminjača, Šiljka, Sitnozrmara, Žutak, Koreljak, Crvenperka, Dugodrška,
Dolovaci, Jovanjska Vidovka, Solanka, Projača, Cvetnjaja, Sabljanka, Rakijara,
Jakovka etc. (Мратинић 2000: 210).
Even today there are many old pear varieties in Serbia, both in yards and in
orchards, mostly as single trees grown for personal use. They include: Jagodarka,
Petrovača, Ilinjača, Mirisavka, Beli and Crveni Medunak (Mednjak), Okruglica,
Tamnjanika, Lubeničarka (Bostanjača), Vidovača, Karamanke, Vodenjara
(Vodenjak, Jeribasma), Turšijara, Arapka (Kantaruša), Sijerak, Ozimača (Jarac),
Mesnjača, Takiša (Takuša), Bazva, Tepavac, Lončara, Pološka, Ovčara (Савић
2014: 32–49).15
One example of an old pear variety from our region is Takiša pear, which
may still be found in the field. The fruit is ripe in September and must blett after
picking so it softens. The fruit is small with thick brown skin. Flesh is crunchy,
not overly sweet, with a refreshing aroma. It is used fresh, processed or dried as
whole fruit. According to Lapčević (Лапчевић 1921: 88–89) Takiša pears used
to be cooked in a pot or cauldron and eaten with bread as the main dish, or as
desert. Ripe pears were also commonly roasted in hot ashes along open fire. It is
interesting that old Takiša trees may yield up to 1000 kg of fruit in a single season
(Савић 2013: 40).
Karamanka is an old variety originating in Asia Minor, in area Karaman.
According to Lapčević (Лапчевић 1921: 47–49) it was brought in during the time
of descendants of Prince Lazar. It is assumed that the Serbian soldiers, fighting
as vassals “for the sultan’s account” against the Karaman people, brought it to
our region. Until the Second World War it was the pear variety with the widest
distribution in present-day Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia. Today it is rare, but it
still may be recorded in the catchment area of Zapadna Morava, in Vranje valley,
Toplica, Raška and Metohija (Мратинић 2000: 13). Karamanka has medium-
sized fruits of proper pear shape, with pronounced irregularities, with straw-
yellow skin. The flesh is juicy, refreshing and sweet, with characteristic Muscat
smell. The tree is healthy and long-lived; it may yield up to 200 kg of fruit per tree
each year. It ripens in late July and in August.
Vodenjara (Vodenjača, Pljuskača, Jeribasma) is another interesting variety
of pear. Its name invokes the structure and quality of fruit, as this old variety
contains a high percentage of water. The saying is that this pear is “not eaten but
drunk”. In free translation from Turkish, jeribasma means “do not touch me” or
“what falls does not stay whole”, as it breaks and explodes when it hits the ground
15 Many of the listed data are results of field studies performed throughout Serbia within the
project of Natural History Museum “Autochthonous Fruit of Serbia” in 2002–2008.
161
(Лапчевић 1921: 108). The fruit is medium-sized or large, yellowish green, ovate-
oblong in shape, with thin and fragile skin. The flesh is white, sweet-and-sour
and juicy, with high percentage of water. Trees may reach old age and each tree
may yield up to 2000 kg of fruits each year (Мратинић 2000: 209). Jeribasma is
distributed not only in Serbia but also in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece
and Turkey.
The folk lore considers the pear to be a tree with ambivalent properties. It
is both demonic and holy, and it represents both threat and protection. Once it was
believed that witches and devils gather in a pear tree, and the dragon destroying
the vineyards falls on it. But the pear fruit was also used as medicine and for
making spells. Under the pear tree communion was taken and people prayed to it,
which means it used to be a holy tree. Pear fruit was placed on graves, connecting
it with the cult of the dead (Чајкановић 1994: 124–126; Поповић 2012: 31–33).
2.3. Plum
Plum is a tree from rose family (Rosaceae). It originated in southwestern
Asia, in Caucasus, and from there it spread toward China, the Mediterranean,
the Middle East and the North America. The long history of evolution and
domestication in different environments led to a high degree of diversity and
an extensive range, including the whole Northern Hemisphere. Plum has been
used for over 6000 years. Many old peoples of Asia (Tatars, Huns) used it in
their diet and traded in its fruits. Plum was also known in Middle East, Syria,
Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, and even adorned the hanging gardens of Babylon.
It is believed that plum was taken from Middle East to the Balkans by Alexander
the Great in the 4th century B.C. In the 1st century B.C. the Romans took it to Italy
and further across Europe (Мишић 2002: 107–111). Today there are over 2500
plum varieties in the world.16
The Slavs have farmed plum at the Balkan Peninsula. In the early Middle
Ages in Serbia, plum was grown as individual trees on monastery and feudal
land, and later also at peasants’ own property. The Dušan’s Code from 1349 has
regulated fruit farming within the Serbian Empire, especially in the valley of
Zapadna Morava, Ibar and Lim. However, until the 18th century the prevalent
fruit in Serbia were apple, pear, walnut, mulberry and chestnut, and the more
intensive spread of plums started only in late 18th and early 19th century (Лазић
2007: 58–59). Today plum is the leading fruit crop in our country (Булатовић–
Мратинић 1996: 492).
Domestic Plum (Prunus domestica L.) is a progenitor of a high percentage

of plum varieties in our region.17 In Serbia almost every area has its own
16 Plum fruit is used fresh, as jam, pekmez, juice, cakes, as dry prunes, as well as for preparing
first-class brandy.
17 Damson/Bullace (Prunus insititia L.) is progenitor of most autochthonous brandy varieties of
plums in our area.
162
characteristic autochthonous variety of plum: Papračanka around Knjaževac,

Bardaklija at Dimitrovgrad and Pirot, Saridža at Babušnica and Bela Palanka,
Moravka (Bugarka) at Despotovac and Svilajnac, Piskavac at Aleksandrovac
and Trstenik, Plavara at Valjevo, Crnošljiva at Čačak, Crvena Ranka (Drenovka,
Šumadinka, Ranjača) at Gornji Milanovac and Ljig (Лазић 2007: 278).
Lapčević (Лапчевић 1921: 31–35) studied plums in addition to apples
and pears, and lists various varieties farmed at his time, including: Bardaklija,
Belovinka, Belopandara, Belica, Belošljiva, Bosanka, Bugarka, Volujača, Gloca,
Goveđača, Desićanka, Drenovka, Madžarka (Madžaruša, Požegača, Požeškinja,
Cepača, Mađarka), Pandara, Piskor (Piskavac, Žuta Džanarika, Crvena Džanarika),
Ponjavara, Praporac, Ranka (Ranošljiva, Ranjuša, Ranovača), Trnovača
(Trnošljiva), Turgulja, Crvenjača, Crnošljiva, Čokešina, Džanarika etc. The same
source states that Bardaklija was named after bardak, an earthen drinking vessel
which was used to serve brandy made of this type of plum (Лапчевић 1921:
108–109). Panađurka plum is ripe around Dormition of the Mother of God, which
is the time of village fairs (panađurs), and therefore named after the time when
“most fruit is processed and harvested” (Лапчевић 1921: 121).
Crvena Ranka plum (also known as Darosavka, Šumadinka, Crvenjača,
Ranošljiva) is an autochthonous variety of our area. It is believed to have originated
in vicinity of village Darosava near Aranđelovac. Due to its susceptibility to plum
pox (sharka) it is highly threatened and slowly disappears. This is one of the
highest-quality brandy types, used to make famous slivovitz (Лазић 2007: 103).
Požegača (Madžarka, Bistrica, Modrica, Čitlovka, Cepača) is believed to
have originated in Asia Minor (Лазић 2007: 81) so it may have been brought
by Turks in the Middle Ages during the conquest period. Although it is farmed
throughout Europe and the World, Požegača in our region is of top quality. It is
susceptible to plum pox (sharka) and other plant diseases and therefore threatened
in our region.18
There are also numerous other local varieties in our region: Magareška
plum, Belošljiva, Turgulja, Gorčivka etc.19
Plum has an important place in our everyday life. Almost every rural house
has a plum in its yard or orchard. Many settlements in Serbia were therefore
named after it (Šljivovo, Šljivovik, Šljivovice, Šljivar, Šljivovac etc.) and many
family names were also inspired by this fruit (Šljivanac, Šljivar, Šljivić, Šljivo,
Šljivančanin etc.) (Лазић 2007: 281–283). Today slivovitz brandy is made
individually in most of our village homesteads and served to guests with pride.
Brandy is used for toasts and cheers at weddings, slavas and festivities, and it is
also drunk for the soul of the deceased (Савић 2013: 84).
18 Flesh of the fruit is golden yellow, firm, juicy, aromatic, with an ideal ratio of fruit sugars and
acids, making it the highest-quality brandy plum in the world.
19 Results of research by a group of authors, Balcan pomology – Plum Seednet, 2012.
163
Plums also had an important role both in the earlier ancestor cult and in the
traditional culture. It was planted at graveyards, while in case of death of small
children they were buried directly in the plum orchard. It was used in spells,
magick and folk medicine, both as fruit and as a twig. It had an important role in
custom and ritual practice. Plum tree could be cut for badnjak; communion with
nettle was performed under the plum on Easter. The site for building a house
was chosen in the place where plum growth was the nest (Чајкановић 1985:
252–298).
3. Conclusion
Numerous varieties of our traditional and autochthonous fruit species are
disappearing irreversibly due to intensification of agriculture, globalization of
market and change in customers’ preferences. This type of genetic pool in Serbia
represents a treasure and a resource for further selection in regard of resistance to
plant diseases and pests, diversity of taste and quality of fruit, mostly included in
organic production. In addition to being part of the diet, the fruits of our region
are also the indispensable part of rural landscape of the Serbian village, tradition
and customs, and effort should be made to preserve this type of heritage, natural/
tangible and intangible, for future generations.
REFERENCES
Беширевић 2009: В. Беширевић, Аутохтоне јабуке и крушке са простора Босне и

Херцеговине, Тузла: Харво-граф д.о.о.
Булатовић–Мратинић 1996: С. Булатовић, Е. Мратинић, Биотехнолошке основе
воћарства, Београд: News Lines.
Величковић 2002: М. Величковић, Воћарство, Београд: Пољопривредни факултет
Земун.
Лазић 2007: П. Лазић, Шљива, бре, Београд: Службени гласник.
Лапчевић 1921: Д. Лапчевић, Воћке, воће и воћарство, Београд: Штампарија
„Мироточиви”.
Милићевић 1884: М. Ђ. Милићевић, Краљевина Србија – нови крајеви, Београд: Кр.
српске државне штампарије.
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Мишић 2002: П. Мишић, Специјално оплемењивање воћака, Београд: Партенон.
Мратинић 2000: Е. Мратинић, Крушка, Веселин Маслеша, Београд.
Мратинић–Којић 1998: Е. Мратинић, М. Којић, Самоникле врсте воћака Србије,
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прози, у: З. Каранаовић, Ј. Јокић (ed.), Биље у традиционалној култури Срба
I, Нови Сад: Филозофски факултет: 31–33.
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Тодоровић 1926: Б. Тодоровић, Воћке и воће за школе и народ, Београд: Штампарија
„Свети Сава”.
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рукoпис приредио и допунио Војислав Ђурић, Београд: Српска књижевна

задруга и САНУ.
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PLANTS AND HERBS IN TRADITIONAL

Edited: Zoja Karanović and Jasmina Dražić

For the publisher: Boško Suvajdžić

Editors: Zoja Karanović

Rewievers: Nada Milošević Đorđević

Illustration: The Oak tree in the village of Savinac

Cover design: Nataša Matović

Print: Štamparija “Feljton”, Novi Sad

CIP - Каталогизација у публикацији

ГОРА љиљанова : (биљни свет у традиционалној култури Срба) :

Радови на срп., рус. и енгл. језику. - Тираж 300. - Напомене и библиографске

a) Фолклористика - Србија - Зборници b) Српска народна књижевност -

Zoja S. Karanović and Jasmina N. Dražić

Йоанна Й. Ренкас (Joanna J. Rękas)

Biljana Lj. Sikimić

Smiljana Ž. Đorđević Belić

Danijela M. Popović Nikolić

UDC: 811.163.41’374:929 Karadžić V. S.

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD (NOMINATION OF

The second edition of Srpski rječnik (Serbian Dictionary, 1852) by Vuk

Stefanović Karadžić, features linguistic material from a significant part of the

it possible to understand the cognitive processes relating to denotative, referential

it be golden” (Брканлија Касаблија 1903: 168). The symbolism of this plant

Another name for vratić (and tanacetum balsamita or costmary) is

evidence of plants in love magic which relies on formulae containing lexemes

Бјелетић 1996: М. Бјелетић, Од девет брата крв (фитоними и термини сродства),

Гура 2005: А. Гура, Симболика животиња у словенској народној традицији. Прев.

Половина 2014: Н. Половина, Симболика крина у српској средњовековној

Translated by: Borislava Eraković

THE THIRD DAY. THE ORIGIN AND FEATURES OF

I Models of etiological narratives about plants

The systematization of these texts is difficult, as a result of several factors:

that the twist in the narrated chain of events is truthful (Милошевић-Ђорђевић

Биљке I 2013: Биље у традиционалној култури Срба: приручник фолклорне

Крајини, Караџић, Алексинац, III, 12: 239.

Латковић 1975: В. Латковић, Народна књижевност, Београд: Научна књига.

Тројановић 1930: С. Тројановић, Ватра у обичајима и животу српског народа,

Južnih Slavena, JAZU, Zagreb, XXVIII/2: 111–144.

Translated by: Borislava Eraković

Йоанна Й. Ренкас (Joanna J. Rękas)

ХРИСТИАНСКАЯ СИМВОЛИКА БАЗИЛИКА В СВЕТЕ

Учитывая богатую фольклористическую и этнологическую литературу,

actions that are represented as prototypical» (Connerton 1989: 70). Анализ

Формирование традиции, на которой основывается символическое

предпосылки всегда являются решающими для формы проведенных

Я хочу подчеркнуть, что имею в виду не настоящие события,

В случае источника анализа речь идет о крещении Иисуса,

каузативно, т. е. как влияние последствий крещения Иисуса на обрядово-

2 Церковь учредила Богоявление в память крещения Христа в реке Иордан, описываемого

форму других кодов ритуала (в том числе предметного), определенных как

Крещение Иисуса является основополагающим действием

3 Способ, которым «развивается» память в обрядово-,бытовых комплексах рождения

Для форм празднования решающими являются следующие

Да ова вода буде на исцељење душа и тела, и на прогнање сваке

Ево вам дадох власт над духовима нечистим, да их изгоните, и да

Приклони ухо твоје, и услиши нас, Господе, који си благоволео да се

Сильная, церковно-правовая (в рамках христианства) связь

259; Петровић 2000: 66–68). От «молитвения» (обряд первого дня), через

Обично се знамење врши у кући у присуству детета и пре осам дана, у

В вышеприведенных примерах видно присутствие базилика в

кладет прядь волос новорожденного в воск, а потом вместе с базиликом - в

пространства). Пока базилик привязан к кресту (с момента освящения воды

Зошто ми заповедаш да извршам нешто кое ги надминува моите

[...] на Крстителот, кој трепереше, му вика: Подај ја твојата рака, и