Името на девойката – спасителка на Малта, в народната памет на българите
The Name of the Virgin Savior of Malta in the Folk Memory of the Bulgarians

Summary/Abstract: This paper is the result of a multi-year study of Bulgarian folk songs with the motif „Virgin Rescues Malta”, which preserve and carry through the centuries the memory of the wars of the Ottoman Empire with the Order of Malta and the Great Siege of Malta. On the basis of a statistical analysis of the 61 published versions of the text, the report examines the frequency of use of the names by which the protagonist is referred to and the historical information contained in them. Furthermore, a group of specific Bulgarian names that on an anthroponymic level keep alive the connection of the Bulgarians with the events about which they are sung is also investigated. A map of geographical distribution in the ethnic Bulgarian land is presented, correlated with the territorial distribution of the songs about Malta with a female protagonist. The paper concludes that Bulgarian folk songs with the motif “Virgin Rescues Malta” are among the folklore works with a very high degree of historical authenticity.

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