Review article
https://doi.org/10.15176/vol53no202
The Genealogy of an Animal Phraseme
Antonija Zaradija Kiš
orcid.org/0000-0002-2013-9398
; Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku, Zagreb
Abstract
This paper is couched in the framework of cultural animal studies, in the Croatian oral and written linguistic and literary heritage. More specifically, it deals with birds and the way they have been perceived throughout history. Many variants of a bird’s name appear as a result of links that have been established with a particular bird, and there are phrasemes and sayings that are derived from the bird’s behaviour. Due to various circumstances over time, the source of such a phraseme, and gradually also its meaning, is lost, although it remains preserved, but solely in folk memory. Thinking along those lines, this paper is based on the rare notations in field reports from around Međimurje that refer to the hoopoe bird and its influence in the shaping of certain phrasemes. They include the phraseme “masten kak futač” (as fatty as a hoopoe) that caught our attention, and we will try to explain the source of this phraseme using the cultural lexical paradigm, and to clarify two different hoopoe source experiences through a comparison with others.
Keywords
phraseme, hoopoe bird, grease, Međimurje
Hrčak ID:
170718
URI
Publication date:
16.12.2016.
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