Sekrety świata natury zdemaskowane, czyli Mistrz, Małgorzata i fitonimy
Master, Margarita and Plant-Related Terminology, that is Flora and Its Exposure

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the presentation of the natural world in Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. In particular, the authors focus on how flora is presented in the novel. Based on an analysis of the vocabulary referring to names of plants, their parts, types of habitats and their derivatives, a frequency list has been created. A qualitative analysis has revealed that several lexemes at a high level of generality are dominant: “garden” and “forest”; these two most frequent phytonyms in the novel account for more than 20 per cent of botany-related terms in the text. Having thus delineated this lexical field, the authors conclude that the author's botanical knowledge was surprisingly limited. Next, this conclusion is discussed in the context of the general message of the novel, taking into account the conventions of the genre and issues related to civilization.

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