https://doi.org/10.53656/bel2025-4-4RS

2025/4, стр. 490 - 499

CROSS-CULTURAL ASPECT IN THE STUDY OF VERBAL FOLKLORE (BASED ON THE MATERIAL OF BULGARIAN AND UKRAINIAN PAREMIA AND FAIRY TALES)

Резюме: The universality and endemicity of different national cultures, including folklore, which is undoubtedly an important component of the national value system, is determined in the process of projecting different cultures into each other. The use of a cross-cultural approach makes it possible, on the one hand, to identify in folklore those features that are universal, those that are generally significant for the human world, and on the other hand, those that are the direct property of a particular people. Such features manifest themselves in the language through the language itself, that is, through the verbal means inherent in a particular language. The scientific novelty of the article is that it is the first attempt to examine the folklore of Ukrainians and Bulgarians through the prism of a cross-cultural approach using elements of the lexicographic modelling method. The language of oral folklore undoubtedly deserves lexicographical study, and it may well emphasize the specifics of the folklore of different peoples. The folklore texts of the genres analysed in this article are capable of accumulating those socio-cultural meanings that are common to many peoples, as the above examples from Ukrainian and Bulgarian proverbs confirm. At the same time, the traditions under study also contain elements that give these texts a distinct national flavour. The national colouring of proverbs and sayings is achieved through the use of specific personal names peculiar to a particular people, or local variants of national human names, geographical names characteristic of a particular region, names of local realities that are either completely absent in other peoples or do not have exact equivalents in their language. Fairy tales have much more common elements due to the expressive wanderlust of this genre, but they can also include an element that emphasizes the specifics of a certain time in the life of the people. Everyday details can bring a distinct national flavour to a fairy tale.

Ключови думи: language of folklore; cross-cultural linguistic folklore studies; Bulgarian folk sayings and proverbs; Ukrainian folk sayings and proverbs; Ukrainian folk sayings and proverbs; Bulgarian folk tales

Ukrainian scholars traditionally consider folklore as a phenomenon of the verbal order, as a certain set of texts that arose at different stages of the formation and development of the Ukrainian people. In this article, we take proverbs and sayings into account. Such texts, despite their sometimes structural, compositional, genre, and stylistic similarities among different peoples of the world, often accumulate national cultural meanings, in addition to general ones. The study of folklore texts in the comparative aspect will, on the one hand, reveal specific features of the oral folk literature of other peoples of the world, and, on the other hand, contribute to a deeper understanding and awareness of our own traditional culture. Despite the proximity of the peoples, in particular, the fact that Ukrainians and Bulgarians belong to the Baltic-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family, they have not only common but also distinctive features due to the peculiarities of their geographical location, way of life, and differences in worldview. All these differences form a certain ethnic culture, which partly becomes a closed, relatively conservative system, since such a culture primarily emerges and functions within a particular ethnic group. Folklore is also a part of ethnic culture. It takes thousands of years for a nation to shape its oral folk art. Oral folklore has its own distinctive features and a specific system of artistic and expressive means, which give grounds to speak of folklore as a national phenomenon with distinctive national characteristics.

Ukrainian folklore and its verbal means are constantly in the field of view of Ukrainian scholars. Both collecting work and attempts at theoretical rethinking of the accumulated material continue. Today, a promising area of research on oral folklore is being formed – cross-cultural linguistic folklore. In Ukrainian linguistics, the cross-cultural aspect of studying the linguistic phenomena of folklore is still insufficiently developed and tested. However, this is not to say that this area has not been paid attention to in Ukrainian linguistics at all. T. Krekhno and V. Krakhmal examined the peculiarities of reflecting reality on the material of the concept of “bird” in the linguistic picture of the world of Ukrainians and Poles (Krekhno, Krakhmal 2011). Quite interesting is N. Kolesnyk’s research, in which she focuses on Slavic song folklore and tries to “identify the peculiarities of national onomastics” and to find out the distinctive and common features of cultural meanings concentrated in proper names (Kolesnyk 2012, p. 297).

Ukrainian scholars have long been interested in Bulgarian folklore. N. Hryhorash notes, for example, that Ukrainian literary Bulgarian studies as a separate and independent branch of science have existed since the works of Yuri Venelin related to the study of Bulgarian folk song writing and literature appeared in Ukraine in the 20s and 30s of the eighteenth century (Hryhorash 2003, p. 95). It was from that time that Ukrainian science began a comprehensive study of the culture of Slavic peoples, including the Bulgarian one. Ukrainian scientists actually raised the question of the reflection of national character in the oral literary work of the people for the first time during that period.

Researchers are beginning to view folklore as a means of affirming the identity of the people. They see it as a source of knowledge about the history and culture of the people, the peculiarities of their way of life. Gradually, folk art is seen as an object and subject of theoretical research in various fields of knowledge, as a basis for the development of professional fiction. In fact, nowadays, at this time, Ukrainian scholars are laying the foundations of interdisciplinary research into folklore, and a comparative methodology for studying historical and cultural processes represented in the oral folk art of different peoples of the world is beginning to take shape. The Ukrainian and Bulgarian peoples have a lot in common. For example, the researcher Y. Venelin, mentioned above, noted heroism as a leading feature of South Slavic, including Bulgarian, folklore (Hryhorash 2003, p. 93). Bulgaria, like Ukraine, did not have its own statehood for a long time. For almost five centuries, the Bulgarian people were under the oppression of the Ottoman Empire. Ukraine also suffered oppression from various empires for many centuries – the Austrian and the largest, the Moscow Kingdom, and later the Russian Empire. Therefore, various insurgent movements are reflected in the oral folklore of both peoples (for example, haidutsky in Bulgarian folklore, haidamatsky in Ukrainian). The Ukrainian and Bulgarian peoples have fought for independence for many centuries. The presence of one’s own statehood contributes to the most active study of history and culture.

The purpose of the article is to identify common and distinctive features present in folk proverbs, sayings, and fairy tales of the Ukrainian and Bulgarian peoples. Such clarification will include a lexicographic component, in particular, the compilation of a dictionary that will record common and distinctive verbal features in the oral language of these peoples.

To establish similarities and differences, one of the most traditional and widespread scientific methods of cognition of reality was used – comparison. This method allowed us to establish both common to all peoples and distinctive national characteristics.

The material for analysis and comparison was taken from the collection “Bulgarian Proverbs and Sayings”, compiled and translated from Bulgarian by D. Bilous (1973) and the collections “Ukrainian Folk Proverbs and Sayings”, edited by the famous Ukrainian poet M. Rylskyi (1955), “Ukrainian Proverbs and Sayings”, compiled by S. Myshanych and M. Paziak (1984). We also used a collection of Bulgarian folk tales compiled by O. Ketkov (Ketkov 1979) and Ukrainian folk tales about animals compiled by I. Berezovskyi (Berezovskyi 1986).

The proverbs and sayings of each nation, despite the commonality of themes and situations, reflect the specificity of the national and linguistic worldview. Different ethnic groups perceive this world differently, so their worldview is not identical.

The names of local realities that are either completely absent in other nations or do not have exact equivalents in their language can add national colour. For example, Bulgarian proverbs and sayings mention the name of the khoro folk dance. Below is a description of this reality, including 1) minimum grammatical indicators; 2) meaning; 3) contexts that implement the relevant semantics; 4) an indication of the source of the illustration. For reasons of economy, we will use the note “Ibid.” if the context comes from a source we cited earlier.

KHÓRО, indeclinable, m. A Bulgarian folk dance (round dance) performed by a large number of people (either only men or women, or mixed – both men and women), during which they hold hands, belts, men sometimes put their hands in a circle on their shoulders, accompanied by singing, playing various folk instruments, mainly the gayda (bagpipe). If you come to the dance, you have to dance (Bulgarian proverbs and sayings / compiled by D. D. Bilous. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1973. P. 40); Barefoot walks, but khoro drives (Ibid., p. 53); The girl did not like khoro and married a piper (Ibid., p. 83); We dance one khoro, sing one song (Ibid., p. 140), Khoro does not age (Ibid.); The fox began to dance khoro (Bulgarian folk tales / compiled by O. D. Ketkova. O. D. Ketkova. Kyiv: Veselka, 1979, p 89).

Of course, round dances are also present in traditional Ukrainian folk culture, but Ukrainians have their own specifics, mostly timed to the calendar and ritual cycle. During spring dances, Ukrainians performed vesnianky, hayivky, and hahilky. People timed summer dances to celebrate such holidays as Kupailo, Savior, Mermaid Week; autumn dances were associated with the harvest. People associated winter dances with carolling and singing; in particular, the blizzard dance (“Khurdelytsia”, “Zametil” and “Veremia”) was performedin in winter. The oldest Ukrainian round dances include those that reflect labour processes in their movements. In the Ukrainian folk tradition, particularly among the Boikos, there is a musical instrument with the same name as the Bulgarians’ one gayda, but it refers to a flute (Onyshkevych 1984, p. 157).

Local personal names can also add a national flavour to proverbs and sayings. The presence of such anthroponyms in proverbs to some extent indicates the primary origin of such formations. The Bulgarian basis is indicatedin, in particular, by the surname Dimitrov in the proverb: Without Dimitrov, in Dimitrov’s style (Bilous 1973, p. 16).

DIMITRÓV, -a, m. George Dimitrov (Bulgarian: Геóрги Димитрóв Михáйлов) (1882 – 1949) was an international communist activist, leader of the Bulgarian communist movement, nicknamed in his time the ‘Bulgarian Lenin’, ‘leader of the Bulgarian people’, whose body rested in a mausoleum in Sofia until 1990. Bulgaria’s highest state award (the Dimitrov Prize) which was awarded for significant achievements in culture, art and science from the 1950s to the 1990s was named after this politician Without Dimitrov, in Dimitrov’s style (Bulgarian proverbs and sayings / compiled by D. D. Bilous. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1973, p. 16).

The distinctly Bulgarian flavour is indicated by the use of the name Petko in proverbs and sayings, which is the Bulgarian version of the Greek-derived name Petr– (Greek. Petra – rock, stone). This name, of course, also has its equivalents in Ukrainian, where it is represented by the independent name Petr– and its numerous diminutive variants Petrýs, Petrýsio, Petrýsyk, Petrýsichok, Petrýn, Petrýnio, Ptrýnchyk, Ptryk, Ptrychok, Pet’k–, Ptya (Skrypnyk and Dziatkivska 2005, p. 91). Of course, this name also functions in proverbs and sayings of the Ukrainian people: Grab it, Peter, while it’s warm (Myshanych and Paziak 1984, p. 138), I cooked, I baked, for no one else – for Peter (Myshanych and Paziak 1984, p. 142); I love, mum, Petrus (Bobkova, Bahmut, Y., Bahmut, A., 1963, p. 623). Thus, the name Petko has a certain national colouring at the level of its design in the Bulgarian language, but it is not equivalent to the Ukrainian language, as it has its own equivalents in it.

By using an intercultural or comparative approach, one can create their own lexicographic developments that reflect the specifics of the folklore language of several peoples at once, because common and distinctive features are best revealed through comparison and juxtaposition.

Let us try to give an example of a dictionary entry:

PÉTKO, -a, m. The Bulgarian equivalent of the Greek-derived name Πέτρα (Petra – rock, stone). Before Petko was born, a hat was sewn for him (Bulgarian proverbs and sayings / edited by D. Bilous. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1973, p. 77); Angry Petko has an empty bag (Ibid., p. 77).

Ukrainian equivalent PETRÓ, -a, m. I would have grabbed Peter, but it is a pity he is not there (Ukrainian proverbs and sayings / edited by S. V. Myshanych, M. M. Pazyak. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1984. p. 176); Whether Ivan or Peter, it does not matter to me (Ibid., p. 315). Diminutive-aectionate variant: Petrýs, -ya, masculine. Marisa fell in love with Petrusya, but what will mommy say! (Ukrainian folk proverbs and sayings: pre-October period / edited by V. Bobkova, Y. Bahmut, A. Bahmut. Kyiv: State-Publishing House of Fine Arts, 1963, p. 623).

We come across the name Iváncho in Bulgarian proverbs, sayings, and fairy tales (a local variant of the ancient Jewish name Ivan, which comes from the ancient Hebrew Iōhānān (Iĕhōhnānān), literally “Yahweh (god) had mercy: The child was not yet born – he was baptized Ivancho (Bilous 1973, p. 80); – You know, uncle, I have a son in the other world, his name is Ivancho (Ketkov 1979, p. 168).

A distinct national Bulgarian flavor is also preserved in those sayings and proverbs in which we observe echoes of the period when Bulgaria was enslaved by the Turks and was part of the Ottoman Empire (1396 – 1878): Mara became a Turk so as not to wear pig shoes, and put on shoes made of dog skin (Bilous 1973, p. 17). Turkish power – Bulgarian slavery [from the song] (Bilous 1973, p. 21). The Turk takes force, the priest takes prayer, and we left are with nothing (Bilous 1973, p. 21). A Turk gets rich – he takes a wife, and a Bulgarian – he builds a house (Bilous 1973, p. 21). But let the Turkish saber not take me (Bilous 1973, p. 21). Do not mess with a Turk or a monk; do not have any business with them, if you want to have peace (Bilous 1973, p. 21). A woman’s tongue is sharper than a Turkish saber (Bilous 1973, p. 79). An evil tongue is heavier than five Turkish sabres (Bilous 1973, p. 139). As for Ukrainian proverbs and sayings, although during the 15th – 16th centuries, Ukrainian lands were subjected to the destructive influence of the raids of the Ottoman Empire and its vassal, the Crimean Khanate, they did not conquer them. We have mentions of such events mainly in the oral epic poems (dumy) of the Ukrainian people and their historical songs. In Bulgarian proverbs and sayings, there is an emphasis on the sharpness of the Turkish saber, Turkish power in general. In Ukrainian folk sayings and proverbs, there is practically no emphasis on the Turks or the danger of Turkish weapons. The epithet “Turkish” is rarely used in the relevant folklore texts of the Ukrainian people. This epithet occurs in a proverb that indicates significant poverty: Naked, like a Turkish saint (Myshanych, Pazyak 1984, p. 21), which is a synonym for another comparative expression that indicates the great poverty of the one to whom it is applied – Naked, like a church mouse.

National identity is a given to a proverb or fairy tale by geographical names associated with the territory of residence of a certain people, their history, the formation and development of statehood. For example, the use of the name of the city of Istanbul in a Bulgarian folk proverb echoes the period of the Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria. This former Byzantine city was the capital of the Ottoman Empire for a long time, from the time of its conquest in 1453 by Sultan Mehmed until 1930.

A dictionary entry describing a similar geographical name should include other variants of the name found in relevant folklore texts. We suggest presenting such options in bold type after the main title.

ISTANBUL, -a / -u. Tsargorod, -a. One of the largest modern cities in Turkey (Turkish: Istanbul). Located on the coast of the Bosporus (the strait connecting the Black and Marmara Seas). The former city of Constantinople, which was captured by the Turks in 1453 and became the capital of the Ottoman Empire, remained so until the formation of the Republic of Turkey in 1930, with its capital in Ankara. I went to Istanbul, but I did not see the king (Bulgarian proverbs and sayings / edited and translated by D. Bilous. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1973, p. 137); You will not take Constantinople in with one glance (Ibid., p. 23); By asking, you will find Constantinople (Ibid., p. 130).

In Ukrainian proverbs and sayings, Kyiv usually appears in relevant situations. The use of this oikonym gives a distinct national flavour to the statements. For example, by asking, that is, using the tongue (language as a means of communication) in Ukrainian paremias, one can reach Kyiv. The tongue will lead to Kyiv (Myshanych 1984, p. 362), The tongue will lead to Kyiv, and in Kyiv it will get lost (Myshanych 1984, p. 235); The tongue will lead not only to Kyiv, but also to Kyiv (Myshanych 1984, p. 235).

STARÁ PLANẎNA, Starói Planýny. Mountains of the Balkan Peninsula, located mainly in the territory of Bulgaria (Bulgarian: Стара планина), partly in North Macedonia and Serbia. Frowning, like Stara Planyna (Bulgarian proverbs and sayings / edited by D. Bilous. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1973, p. 133).

A distinct national flavor is evident in proverbs and with realities marked by a certain ethnography, that is, those that constitute local specificity. For example, in Bulgarian proverbs and sayings we come across the name of the alcoholic beverage “rakia”, which is primarily consumed by southern Slavs, including Bulgarians.

RÁKIYA, -i, f. Plague and knife do not kill as many people as wine and Rakia (Bulgarian proverbs and sayings / edited by D. Bilous. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1973, p. 92).

In Ukrainian proverbs and sayings, we come across the name of an alcoholic beverage called varenukha. The preparation of this drink has a long history; the Zaporozhian Cossacks once revered it. Ivan Kotlyarevsky mentions this drink in his poem “Aeneid”, which is a true encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies.

VARENÚKHA, -y, f. Vodka, brewed with honey, dried fruits and berries. When they drank the varenukha, they also swarmed like flies (Ukrainian proverbs and sayings / edited by S. V. Myshanycha, M. M. Pazyaka. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1984, p. 322).

Therefore, in proverbs and sayings, we sometimes have elements that clearly emphasize national specificity, but at the same time they convey universal meanings, depict those situations and social phenomena that are common to many peoples of the world.

Let us compare, for example, Bulgarian and Ukrainian proverbs and sayings about social inequality, about the presence in society of different, differing in material status, segments of the population, in particular, poor and rich people. Both Bulgarian and Ukrainian proverbs and sayings emphasize that a poor person is constantly hungry because he has nothing to eat. Let us give examples of such paremias. The rich eat when they know, and the poor – when they have (Bulgarian proverbs and sayings / edited and translated by D. Bilous. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1973, p. 52). The rich say that we will eat, and the poor whether we will eat (Ukrainian proverbs and sayings / edited by S. V. Myshanycha, M. M. Pazyaka. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1984, p. 24). The rich eat when he wants, and the poor – when he has something to eat (Ibid., p. 24).

Rich people have a special mentality. Where others see obstacles, they see opportunities for increasing wealth, and their wealth attracts a wide variety of people who are willing to serve them for money. This feature is also reflecting in the sayings and proverbs of both the Bulgarian and Ukrainian peoples: Even roosters lay eggs for the rich (Bulgarian proverbs and sayings / edited and translated by D. Bilous. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1973, p. 56); The rich man has everything, because even a rooster lays eggs for him (Ukrainian proverbs and sayings / edited by S. V. Myshanycha, M. M. Pazyakа. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1984, p. 24); Even a bull will give birth to a calf for him (Bulgarian proverbs and sayings / edited and translated by D. Bilous. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1973, p. 56); Even the rich man’s bulls give birth to calves (Ukrainian proverbs and sayings / edited by S. V. Myshanych, M. M. Pazyak. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1984, p. 25); The rich are well o even in hell (Ukrainian proverbs and sayings / edited by S. V. Myshanycha, M. M. Pazyakа. Kyiv: Dnipro, 1984, p. 24).

Fairy tales, compared to proverbs and sayings, have more in common, because they often go beyond the boundaries of a particular ethnic group. Ukrainian and Bulgarian fairy tales have many common elements, which we can trace, in particular, at the plot level. The texts of this genre of oral folklore usually have a significant number of variants. In addition, folk tales are characterized by so-called “wandering” or, as they are also called, “wandering” plots. Bulgarian folk tales have many similarities with Ukrainian folk tales. For example, the Bulgarian fairy tale “The Fox and the Stork” is very close in plot to the Ukrainian “The Crane and the Fox”. The Bulgarian “The Scary Kitten” echoes the Ukrainian folk tale “Pan Kotsky”. The Bulgarian folk tale “How Friends Scare the Wolves” is in many ways reminiscent of the Ukrainian “The Goat and the Sheep””. The friends also find a wolf’s head, which comes in handy when they meet real, live wolves. However, in addition to the goat, ram, and wolf, the Bulgarians also use a donkey and an ox as characters in the corresponding fairy tale. “The beaten one carries the unbeaten one” – this key phrase of the Bulgarian fairy tale of the same name also plays an important role in the plot of the Ukrainian folk tale “About the Little Wolf-Brother and the Little Fox-Sister”: “She climbed onto his back and sat down: “The beaten one carries the unbeaten one, the beaten one carries the unbeaten one” (Berezovskyi 1986, p. 20). True, these tales have some minor differences in plot and use different, albeit related, verbs “to carry” and “to bear”. However, the infinitive form “to bear” is equivalent in this situation to the verb “to carry” – “to move or transport someone or something from one place to another by some means of transport”. In addition, in these tales, the wolf acts as such “a vehicle”. The Bulgarian fairy tale “What I sought, I found” is an expanded version of the Ukrainian “The Wolf and the Mare”.

The Bulgarian fairy tale “How Friends Lived in the Forest” and the Ukrainian “How Animals Wintered in the Forest” have much in common. In the first of them, domestic animals confront wolves in the forest, in the second one – a wolf, a bear, and a fox. Tales about the migration of domestic animals generally have a clearly expressed wandering plot, which, with certain modifications, is reproduced among different peoples of the world. This is confirmed by the presence of a similar position in the famous German fairy tale “The Town Musicians of Bremen”, recorded and adapted by the Brothers Grimm, where the animals also found themselves in the forest and remained to live there, driving the robbers out of the hut.

However, there are certain differences not only in the plot and event composition of the works. Bulgaria has a slightly warmer climate than Ukraine. This feature is reflecting in a certain way, for example, in fairy tales about animals. In Bulgarian fairy tales, the hero of the tale can be, for example, a camel (Bilous 1973, pp. 67 – 68). This animal does not appear at all in Ukrainian. In Bulgarian fairy tales, a donkey is a character more often than in Ukrainian ones. The buffalo is also present in the tales of the Bulgarian people: “The buffalo rushed to the river, saw clean, fast water and wanted to drink and would have drunk the entire river if it had not come to put out the fire” (Bilous 1973, p. 74). This animal does not appear in Ukrainian folk tales.

We also have a lot in common in the social and everyday fairy tales of Ukrainians and Bulgarians. For example, the Bulgarian folk tale “Truth and Lies” (Bilous 1973, pp. 115 – 119) is very close to the Ukrainian “Truth and Lies” (Berezovskyi 1989, pp. 172 – 174), “On Truth and Lies” (Berezovskyi 1989, pp. 174 – 179). The charming Bulgarian fairy tale “The Boy and the Wind” (Bilous 1973, pp. 109 – 111) echoes the Ukrainian “About the Idle Yurka, Mama’s Son.” In both cases, a cunning innkeeper acts, tricking a naive young man into giving him magical objects, but thanks to a magic drum in the Ukrainian fairy tale and a magic stick in the Bulgarian fairy tale, he is punished with a beating and forced to return the previously tricked items with unusual properties. We have a similar plot in the Bulgarian folk tale “Bidar and the Waterman” and the Ukrainian socio-everyday tale “Kripak and the Devil.” We observe differences only at the level of certain details. In a Bulgarian fairy tale, an evil spirit gives a poor man a bag of gold in order to leave the river, in which it lives alone, in a Ukrainian tale, a lake appears in a similar situation, and the serf receives bags of silver for it and redeems himself from serfdom with a certain portion of this treasure. Thus, local realities are introducedin into the wandering plot.

Therefore, the texts of the analysed genres are able to accumulate within themselves those socio-cultural contents that are common to many peoples, which is confirming by the above examples from Ukrainian and Bulgarian proverbs. At the same time, the studied paremias also contain elements that bring a distinct national flavour to these texts. The national colouring of sayings and proverbs is achievedking with specific personal names characteristic of a certain people, or local variants of national human names, geographical names characteristic of a certain region, names of local realities, which are either completely absent from other peoples or do not have exact counterparts (equivalents) in their speech. Fairy tales have much more common elements due to the expressive wandering of this genre, but they can also contain an element that emphasizes the specificity of a certain era in the life of the people, and thanks to certain everyday details, a distinct national flavour is introduce ding into the fairy tale.

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