Functions of colours and coloured objects in Slavic culture: Magic, folklore and language

Abstract

Colours have always played an important role in Slavic culture. In the Slavic world of magic, each basic colour was meaningful and symbolized certain behaviours and their results. In order to understand the perception of colours in the modern times as well as the fixed expressions in which colour terms occur, we should take a look at this phenomenon from the cultural perspective. Adopting the cultural perspective allows researchers to trace the continuity of the Slavic perception of colours and their reflection in language. The aim of this paper is to present the functions of colours and coloured objects in Slavic culture, with relation to their alleged healing, protective and wizardry properties. Besides, the paper presents the Polish and Russian names of plants which were believed to have healing properties as well as the names of illnesses containing colour terms.