Folklore Names: What They Speak about (With Reference to Bashkir Heroic Tales)

This article discusses the general features of the Bashkir naming tradition and the naming of heroes in Bashkir heroic tales. The author studies Bashkir language materials and comes to the conclusion that in the Bashkir linguistic consciousness the name is not identified with the essence of man, but it is rather a separate external element as related to man. However, there is a very careful attitude to the name as to a substitute or representative of an individual. It is reflected in the fact that Bashkirs did not use and do not use anthroponyms of their mother-tongue as names of animals, nor did they use them to denote any other creatures. This is proved by the names of characters of Bashkir heroic tales. In fairytales about heroes the characters are individualized by means of their names. As opposed to the common belief that fairytale characters are nameless, in Bashkir fairytales and heroic tales each character has his / her own personal name. However, if the hero has a supernatural origin (miraculous birth motif), they do not get a human name, and they are often referred to as yeget ‘lad’ or malay ‘boy’. Sometimes a character is called by a descriptive name, not typical of traditional Bashkir anthroponyms.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC

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