The «Road, Crossing and Lands beyond the River» Triad in the East Slavic Ritual Texts: Lexis, Semantics and Pragmatics Cover Image

Триада «дорога, переправа и заречье» в восточнославянском обрядовом тексте: лексика, семантика, прагматика
The «Road, Crossing and Lands beyond the River» Triad in the East Slavic Ritual Texts: Lexis, Semantics and Pragmatics

Author(s): Alexandr I. Iliadi, Irina V. Zhyhora
Subject(s): Customs / Folklore, Lexis, Semantics, Pragmatics, Eastern Slavic Languages
Published by: Slavistický ústav Jána Stanislava Slovenskej akadémie vied
Keywords: Etymology; burial ritual; semantics; keening; spells;

Summary/Abstract: The paper offers detailed consideration of actional and verbal aspects of the triad of the ritualized actions «road», «crossing» and (reaching of) «lands beyond the river», which forms the basis of the East Slavic burial rite. Due to the linguistic specifics of the study the authors put their preferential attention to the language of the burial ritual, which is folklore texts (keening, spells, ritual precepts), their vestiges, separately existing as idiomatic phrases and separate words with peculiar semantics. Being the verbal counterpart of the ritualized action, textual information not only shows the interconnection between three stages of the burial ritual, but also encourages thinking about possible existence of mythological texts in the past, where the path of the dead is described – starting from gathering to the road, ritual precepts, and entering the Paradise extents.

  • Issue Year: 57/2022
  • Issue No: 01
  • Page Range: 3-20
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Russian