| Abstract [eng] |
Flower names reflect the world-view of a nation as every nation names plants, including flowers, growing in its environment according to certain images that were formed throughout a long period of time. That is why comparative semantic investigations are important. Such comparison of semantics of flower names in Lithuanian and Latvian from the linguistic point of view is carried out in the article. Further, on the base of linguistic analysis, the images of three flowers (cottonweed, bluebell and spatterdock), in Lithuanian called katpėdė, katilėlis and lūgnė and their complete or partial equivalents in Latvian kaķpēdiņa, pulkstenīte and ūdensroze are investigated in poem cycles for children by Janina Degutytė (1928–1990) and Arturs Goba (b. 1932). It is noted that established names in folk language are considered to be figurative, i. e. metaphoric. The ground of metaphors consists of things, animals etc., i. e. their forms, features, existing in peoples’ environment. Poems “Katpėdė” (Cottonweed, Cat’s-foot), “Katilėlis” (Bluebell), “Lūgnė” (Spatterdock) from a poem cycle “Piemenaitė karalaitė” (Shepherdess Princess) (1982) by a Lithuanian poetess Janina Degutytė and poems “Sila zvani” (Pinewood Bells), “Kaķpēdiņas” (Cottonweeds, Cat’s-foot) and “Ūdensrozes” (Water Lilies) from a book “Pieneņu piens” (Dandelion Milk) (1978) by a Latvian poet Arturs Goba create interesting and peculiar poetic worlds. Semantics of poems by Degutytė is based on visual and acoustic impressions, grounded on Lithuanian mythological images; whereas poems by Goba are more playful, of a situational character; however, the semantic field of poems by both poets is mostly predetermined by capabilities of the Lithuanian and Latvian languages, semantics of plant names in particular. |
