Phytonyms in British folklore (linguistic and cultural approach)

The subject of the study is phytonyms in the British linguistic culture. The authors consider phytonyms in folklore in detail, namely in love spells, beliefs, magic formulas, conspiracies, predictions, and folk medicine. Phytonyms in this work mean all names of plants and their parts. When classifying phytonyms, the authors rely on a naive picture of the world and divide phytonyms into dendronyms (names of trees and bushes), floronyms (names of flowers) and herbonyms (names of herbs).The purpose of the study is to consider the problem of using phytonymic vocabulary and the peculiarities of the existence of forms of its representation in the field of folk culture of the English-speaking community of Britain from the standpoint of everyday linguistics. The objectives of the study include identifying the specifics of the representation of phytonomic vocabulary in British folklore, as well as systematization and description of its functions.  The work uses methods of complex analysis based on the methods of various sciences (history, cultural studies), among which the following approaches are considered important: a systematic approach, a semiotic approach, a cultural-anthropological approach. The novelty of the research lies, firstly, in the consideration of phytonyms in British folklore from the standpoint of the linguistics of everyday life, complementing the linguistic picture of the world, the modeling of which is gaining popularity in modern language science. In linguistics of recent decades, there has been an obvious trend towards shifting the emphasis to everyday life and everyday human consciousness. Phytonyms have previously been widely studied, but within the framework of other linguistic paradigms. As a result of the research, it was found that the essence of the socio-philosophical concept of everyday life lies in the fact that it is the closest, familiar reality to a person. For modern linguistics, which has turned its attention to the everyday consciousness and daily life of an individual, everyday discourse, including folklore, is valuable. Also, in the course of the study, the functional features of phytonyms in British folklore were considered, which allowed us to draw the following conclusions. In folk art and medicine, phytonyms perform an expressive function that helps to increase expression and, of course, cognitive, since poetry-spells, sayings carry knowledge and wisdom contained in the memory of generations.

British linguoculture, dendronym, Linguistics of everyday life, linguocultural studies, folklife culture, Onomastics, Phytonyms, Floronyms, folklore, Functions of phytonyms