Abstract:
The lexical-semantic group analysis of the men’s names – the members of the wedding – covers the agentives of the Boyko wedding traditions. The research was conducted on the basis of material collected in a field method and was adjusted from regional, lexicographical, folklore and ethnographical sources. The author pays attention to the regional peculiarities of the names of the wedding ceremony participants and their state of preservation under the influence of the literary language and tendency to unify the ritual vocabulary. The nomination figures are differentiated depending on the age, marital status, family ties concerning brides, their functions within the limits of semantic sub-groups: ‘married men – members of the wedding (they belong to a parents generation of the bride by their age)’; ‘unmarried men – members of the wedding (bride’s peers)’; ‘male participants, not regulated by age and marital status’. The wedding recordings of the texts and available lexicographical, ethnographical, folklore material which was collected in a field method gives us the reasons to isolate the main and peripheral men who are involved in the wedding event. The main participants “are served” the whole ceremony: in particular stárosta pays ransom for the weaved wreaths made with periwinkles, exlaims “proshchi” on behalf of brides etc.; druzba removes the wedding tree, produce wedding flag, baptizes the thresholds and others with hatchets etc. In contrast, the socalled peripheral participants perform any function – to carry “korovaj” to church (pidkorovajnyk), they are responsible for food and alcohol (cepnar) and others storage. At some stages of the wedding rituals all the wishing men are involved (without age limits or maritual status).
