Hromatska terminologija u rusinskom i srpskom jeziku

Abstract

In this paper, the author compares chromatic terms in Ruthenian and Serbian. He focuses on the basic colour terms according to Berlin and Kay:white, black, red, green, yellow, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange, andgrey. They have equivalents in both languages: Ruthenianbila– Serbianbela, čarna–crna, červena–crvena, željena–zelena, žovta/žolta–žuta, belava–plava, braon–braon, lilova–ljubičasta, celova–roze, pomarančecova/poma- randžecova–narandžasta, šiva–siva. The criterion of one-morpheme word is not appli- cable to the termslilova, celova, andpomarančecova/pomarandžecovain Ruthenian, andljubičastaandnarandžastain Serbian. It is applicable to the termsbila, čarna, červena, željena, žovta/žolta, belava, braon, andšiva. With the exception ofbraon, all these terms are derived from the Proto-Slavic language (*bеlъ, *čьrnъ, *čьrvenъ, *zelenъ, *žltъ, *polvь, and *sivъ). As far as the Berlin–Kay’s universal of seven phases of colour formation is con- cerned, our study of chromatic terminology confirms it. In accordance with the supposed first stage of development, the Ruthenian language hasbilaandčarna; according to the second stage, Ruthenian hasčervena; in accordance with the third stage, Ruthenian hasže- ljenaoržovta/žolta; according to the fourth stage, Ruthenian hasžovta/žoltaorželjena; in accordance with the fifth stage, Ruthenian hasbelava; according to the sixth stage, it hasbraon; and in accordance with the seventh stage (even if we leave aside the multi-mor- pheme termslilova, celova, andpomarančecova/pomarandžecova), it hasšiva. Generally speaking, the usage of the terms is identical in both investigated languages but there are several differences (e.g.cibulja–beli luk, željena pasulja–boranija). The most frequent suffixes are -astaand -istain Ruthenian, and -astain Serbian.Most of the chromatic terms are of Slavic origin but there are several borrowings used for nuance purposes in recent decades, e.g.azurna, teget, akvamarin, tirkizna, and others. Some borrowings remain unchanged, e.g. in both languagesblond, braon, drap, krem, bež, andoker, and only in Serbianlilaandroze. Hungarian was the official language until the first decades of the 20th century (until the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918), during which Ruthenian–Hungarian bilingualism reigned. That is the reason why several Hungarian colour names are found, e.g. in surnames (the Ruthenian surnameBarnacomes from Hungarianbarna‘brown’,Fekete/Feketais fromfekete‘black’, andVerešis fromvörös‘red’) and in the names of domestic animals (the Ruthenian horse namepejka[Serbianriđan] comes from Hungarianpej‘brown’ andšarga[Serbianžutalj] is fromsár- ga‘yellow’). The general name for ‘colour’ comes from the German language (Ruthenianfarbais from GermanFarbe).