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« 2020. № 4 (154)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2020. № 4 (154), 923—944

UDK 398.1:81’374.2(477.41/.42)

DOI DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2020.04.923

FOLK METEOROLOGICAL TERMINOLOGY OF POLISHCHUKS (MATERIALS TO «THE DICTIONARY OF TRADITIONAL INTANGIBLE CULTURE OF THE RIGHT-BANK POLISYA»)

VASIANOVYCH Oleksandr

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9360-6447
  • Сandidate of History (Ph. D),
  • Deputy Director of Research,
  • State Scientific Center of Protection of Cultural Heritage
  • from Technological Disasters,
  • 21, st. Vyshgorodska, 04074, Kyiv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: guru_v@ukr.net

Abstract. Introduction. Interest in traditional meteorological folk knowledge is caused by the applied aspect of this branch of folk culture, and by the possibilities of applying its experience in modern conditions. Under the influence of education and mass media, the population of Polissya villages is enriched with scientific knowledge, that leads to the leveling of traditional folk knowledge, beliefs and ideas. The process of folk culture decline is accelerated as a result of the Chornobyl accident. Therefore, the organization of the dictionary of terms and terminological local variants related to folk meteorological knowledge is now quite relevant.

Problem Statement. The analysis of the collected field data, which reflect not only the realities of traditional household culture, but also their terminology, led to the need to systematize the meteorological material by compiling an appropriate dictionary.

Purpose. Formation of the dictionary of folk meteorological terminology of the inhabitants of the Right-Bank Polissya based on the author’s expeditionary sources.

Methods. The methodology of publication is based on general scientific principles and basic requirements for works of historical and ethnological direction. During the formation of the dictionary, a list of folk terms and terminological concepts was compiled, their content was briefly revealed and illustrated with narratives indicating the geography of life.

Results. Field data collected during 2002—2017 in the northern districts of Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv regions and from migrants from the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone were systematized and put into scientific circulation according to the author’s questionnaire. The dictionary includes terms and terminological phrases used by the inhabitants of the Right-Bank Polissya to denote meteorological phenomena, animate / inanimate nature, calendar dates and periods that predicted the weather and harvest.

Conclusion. The material presented in the dictionary about the folk meteorological knowledge of the inhabitants of the Right-Bank Polissya testifies to their organic kinship with the all-Ukrainian and all-Slavic ones. Despite this, there are many Polissya terms in the region that are not found in other regions. The analysis of meteorological terminology showed that some meteorological phenomena are dispersed throughout the territory of the Right-Bank Polissya. Modern field data show that the functioning of traditional folk meteorological knowledge is narrowing, it is being replaced by scientific methods of weather forecasting, but the memory of the elderly continues to passively preserve this layer of folk culture, which must be recorded.

Keywords: folk knowledge, folk meteorology, dictionary, term, Right-Bank Polissya.

Received 9.06.2020

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