The Secrets of Eastern European Flora. About Mickiewicz's TSARS Cover Image

Z tajemnic wschodnioeuropejskiej flory. O Mickiewiczowskich CARACH
The Secrets of Eastern European Flora. About Mickiewicz's TSARS

Author(s): Halina Chodurska
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Western Slavic Languages, Eastern Slavic Languages
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie
Keywords: Adam Mickiewicz; 'Switez'; names of plants; tsars

Summary/Abstract: The article presents a critical review of the hypotheses concerning the identification of tsars phytonim in a romantic ballad ‘Switez’. As a result of a detailed analysis of the nineteenth century Polish and Russian names of plants such as car, царь, царь-трава, царь зелье the author comes to the conclusion that Adam Mickiewicz creating a poetic image of unusual flowers and plants used the motifs traditionally attributed to at least two existing ones including the Lobelia dortmanna (Lobelia lacustris L.), but the information about toxic properties of the herbs was probably imported from one of the species of Aconitum genus.

  • Issue Year: 12/2019
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 5-14
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Polish