Sorcerer/sorceress: nomination of magical specialists in Northern Russian mythological stories

Abstract

The article analyzes the use of the nominations of magical specialists in East Slavic mythological prose using the lexemes “sorcerer/witch” as an example. There is a clear tendency in the narrative to avoid the direct names of magical specialists at the first mention, to introduce text into the situation, which is a significant difference from the referential properties of functional names (names of people by profession and occupation) in Russian. The sign of a functional name in the nomination “sorcerer” appears in a situation of conventionally assigned status to the referent. In stories about personal experience, this is observed in the case of the image of a sorcerer-healer (assistant in domestic, medical and other matters). In other cases, the nomination is used not for identification, but only for characterization. In retellings of stories with a stable traditional structure, a malicious character is also introduced into the text with the help of the nomination “sorcerer” (in texts with a stable motive “the sorcerer spoils the wedding”). It is obvious that in such narratives the content and, accordingly, the status of the characters are known in advance and determined by tradition, and the narrator uses the appropriate names, while in personal narratives the speaker himself makes the choice of language means for nominating characters and objects, this is his area of responsibility. The observed regularity of assigning the name “sorcerer” to characters engaged in socially useful activities, and the absence of such in relation to harmful characters, indicates different mechanisms of meaning in axiologically different situations.