PHRASEOLOGICAL VERBALISATION OF THE PHYTONYM POPPY SEED IN UKRAINIAN

Abstract

According to the aim of the study, the article attempts to examine the semantics of the phytonym POPPY SEED and to highlight the components of its meaning in the Ukrainian language paroemias. The relevance of the study is stipulated by the need to analyse the semantics of this phytonym in phraseological units and paroemias in order to understand the conceptual picture of the world of Ukrainians, which contributes to a better understanding of the worldview of the Ukrainian nation. The beliefs, traditions and customs of the Ukrainian people have undergone paroemic verbalisation with the phytonym under study. As part of the phraseological units under consideration, the analysed phytonym can have both pejorative and meliorative colouring. In the Ukrainian culture, the poppy seed is used as a symbol of trivial, something insignificant; it is a symbol of stupidity, it has its special healing properties and serves as a talisman. It has been found that phraseological units with the analysed phytonym can be classified into the following categories: something worthwhile/less, large quantity, presence/absence, small size, fine size, food, and a number of actions that can be performed with poppy seeds, such as sowing, giving, grinding, pounding, chopping. The main components of the analysed phytonym semantics are identified as follows: the semes “essentiality, necessity”, “(non)value”, “plurality”, “sameness, similarity”, “insignificance”, “huge / small quantity”, “delicacy”. The inherent attributes of the phytonym POPPY “black, grey, small, tasty, fine” within the framework of proverbs and sayings contribute to the phraseological objectivation of such concepts as: senility, stupidity, poverty, pretended wealth, inconsistency, incoherence, agreement, emptiness, injustice, exaggeration, flattery/insincerity, arrogance, satisfaction with little or anything, unpretentiousness, nonsense, deception, lies, arbitrariness, unhappy fate, disorder, refusal, nothing, hunger, punishment, reprisal, trouble, annoyance, physical destruction, silence, calm weather, trouble, defeat. It has been found that the semantic elements of the analysed phytonym contribute to the paroemic verbalisation of binary oppositions: “black :: white”, “tasty :: bitter”, “literacy :: illiteracy”, “prosperity :: impoverishment”, “wealth :: poverty”.