Mirror in Northern folk culture: object, word, symbol
Abstract
A mirror is an item that entered peasant use relatively late. Nevertheless, this object became significant in the spiritual culture of the Russian people, and its name was fixed in the literary language and Russian dialects, developing its meaning and becoming the basis for naming other objects.
The article examines the lexical meaning of the word mirror in the Russian literary language and Arkhangelsk dialects, and also analyzes the symbolic meaning of the mirror in folk culture.
In the literary language, the word mirror develops the following meanings. The first meaning of the word is objective, subsequent meanings are based on metaphor. The main property of the mirror is to reflect, and this is the basis of the metaphorical transfer for the meanings 2 and 3. The fourth, special meaning of the word is based on another metaphor: the mirror is flat, smooth, in this meaning it becomes identical to one of the meanings of the word area.
In Arkhangelsk dialects, in addition to the first, objective, meaning, we distinguish the following. 2. A tree trunk or part of it, peeled from the bark, on which longitudinal recesses were made to collect the resin. 3. Plot of open water in the swamp. 4. Notch in the side of the Russian stove. All these meanings are developed on the basis of metaphor, where one of the properties of the mirror is taken as the basis for the transfer.
Such properties of a mirror as reflection, doubling, brilliance are associated not only with the emergence of new meanings of the word, but also with the use of the object itself as a talisman or a symbolic border between the worlds.
So, the mirror was used in the divination process to see the future. After the death of a person, the mirrors were necessarily hung. It was impossible for the two of us to look in the same mirror. The most archaic meaning of the mirror is its use in fertility rituals. As a talisman, a mirror is used in the wedding ceremony.
Thus, the mirror, having become an integral part of peasant life, was integrated into the system of spiritual culture thanks to such symbolic meanings as reflection, doubling, and brilliance. These meanings play their role not only in beliefs and rituals, but also in the development of the meanings of the word mirror in the Arkhangelsk dialects.
References
Chernykh P. Ya. (1999) Istoriko-etimologicheskiy slovar’ sovremennogo russkogo yazyka [Historical and etymological dictionary of the modern Russian language]. Vol. 1–2. Moscow: Russkiy yazyk. (in Russian)
Getsova O.G., Nefedova Ye.A. Arkhangel'skiy oblastnoy slovar'. Vyp. 1-23. M.: MGU; Nauka, 1980-2023 (izdaniye prodolzhayetsya). Getsova O.G., Nefedova Ye.A. Arkhangelsk regional dictionary. Vol. 1–23. Moscow: MGU; Nauka. (the publication continues). (in Russian)
Kuznetsov S. A. (ed.). Bol’shoy tolkovyy slovar’ russkogo yazyka [Great explanatory dictionary of the Russian language]. URL: http://www.gramota.ru/slovari/info/bts/ (accessed on: 10.07. 2023). (in Russian)
Nefedova E. A. (2013) “Arkhangel’skiy oblastnoy slovar’”: traditsii i novatorstvo [Arkhangelsk regional dictionary: traditions and new solutions]. Voprosy leksikografii [Russian Journal of Lexicography], 2 (4): 65–76. (in Russian)
Tarakanova D. A. (2012) Bytovoye i simvolicheskoye znachenie dialektnogo slova (na materiale govorov Srednego Priob’ya) [The common and the symbolic meaning of a dialect word (based on the dialects of the river Ob middle reaches)]. Elektronnyy nauchno-prakticheskiy zhurnal “Gumanitarnye nauchnye issledovaniya” [Electronic scientific & practical journal “Humanities scientific researches”], 11. URL: https://human.snauka.ru/2012/11/1864 (accessed on: 10.07.2023). (in Russian)
Tolstaya S. M. (1994) Zerkalo v traditsionnykh slavyanskikh verovaniyakh i obryadakh [Mirror in the traditional Slavic beliefs and customs]. In: Tolstoy N. I. (ed.). Slavyanskiy i balkanskiy fol’klor. Verovaniya. Tekst. Ritual [Slavic and Balkan folklore. Beliefs. Texts. Ritual]. Moscow: Nauka: 111–129. (in Russian)
Tolstoy N. I. (ed.). (1993) Slavyanskie drevnosti. Etnolingvisticheskiy slovar’ [Slavic antiquities. Ethnolinguistic dictionary]. In 5 vol. Vol. 4. Moscow: Mexhdunarodnye otnosheniya. (in Russian)
Yusupov E. S. (1994) Slovar’ terminov arkhitektury [Disctionary of architecture terms]. St. Petersburg: Leningradskaya galereya. (in Russian)