The motif of the death of a forest giant in Mansi tales
English
journal number:
Journal’s Subject Headings:
Philology
About author:
Ob-Ugric Institute of Applied Researches and Development, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russian Federation, [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the article is part of a complex of research aimed at study of the motif structure of a Mansi fairy tale. In this paper, the attention is focused on the representation of the motif of the death of the forest giant Mēŋkv and the analysis of his attributes.
Objective: to reveal the ways of representation of the motif of the death of the forest giant in the Mansi fairy-tale texts; to explain the semantics of attributes.
Research materials: texts of the Mansi fairy tales published in folklore collections, as well as the author’s field material and reports of informants.
Results and novelty of the research: the scientific novelty of the work is justified by the very formulation of the problem: on the basis of folklore data, the motif of the death of the character is revealed; for the first time an analysis of the attributes of death is carried out. It was determined that the motif of the death of the Mēŋkv (forest giant) is realized in several versions of the plots. They present various attributes of death: an iron crowbar heated on fire, cedar arrows or arrows with burning tips, fire, birch bark mask, which semantically go back to the mythology of the people.
Key words: Mēŋkv, character, motif of death, attributes of death, birch bark mask, Mansi fairy tale
Acknowledgements: the author expresses gratitude to the informants who speak the Mansi language and know the traditions and culture of the people.
For citation: Panchenko L. N. The motif of the death of a forest giant in Mansi tales // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2023; 13 (2/53): 246–255.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the article is part of a complex of research aimed at study of the motif structure of a Mansi fairy tale. In this paper, the attention is focused on the representation of the motif of the death of the forest giant Mēŋkv and the analysis of his attributes.
Objective: to reveal the ways of representation of the motif of the death of the forest giant in the Mansi fairy-tale texts; to explain the semantics of attributes.
Research materials: texts of the Mansi fairy tales published in folklore collections, as well as the author’s field material and reports of informants.
Results and novelty of the research: the scientific novelty of the work is justified by the very formulation of the problem: on the basis of folklore data, the motif of the death of the character is revealed; for the first time an analysis of the attributes of death is carried out. It was determined that the motif of the death of the Mēŋkv (forest giant) is realized in several versions of the plots. They present various attributes of death: an iron crowbar heated on fire, cedar arrows or arrows with burning tips, fire, birch bark mask, which semantically go back to the mythology of the people.
Key words: Mēŋkv, character, motif of death, attributes of death, birch bark mask, Mansi fairy tale
Acknowledgements: the author expresses gratitude to the informants who speak the Mansi language and know the traditions and culture of the people.
For citation: Panchenko L. N. The motif of the death of a forest giant in Mansi tales // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2023; 13 (2/53): 246–255.
