ANNA KACZAN

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin

ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7717-0532

RESEARCH AREAS: ethnolinguistics, the linguistic worldview, Polish folk culture.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2024.97.05

HOW PRETTY IT IS, AND YET SO UGLY – THE IMAGE OF CORNCOCKLE IN POLISH FOLK CULTURE

KEYWORDS: corncockle, stereotype, linguistic and cultural worldview, Polish folk culture.

ABSTRACT

The article presents the linguistic and cultural image of corncockle, a plant categorized as a weed, a flower, and a herb. The full entry for CORNCOCKLE will appear in the eighth plant volume of the Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols, entitled Mushrooms, Weeds, Plant Clusters, edited by Jerzy Bartmiński and Stanisława Niebrzegowska-Bartmińska. In accordance with the assumptions of the cognitive definition, the folk image of corncockle was reconstructed on the basis of linguistic data (including various genres of folklore texts: proverbs, songs, belief narratives, and written peasant poetry) as well as so-called co-linguistic data (i.e. records of beliefs and descriptions of folk practices—ritual, magical, and medicinal). The documentary material comes from the card index of the Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols, housed at the Jerzy Bartmiński Ethnolinguistic Unit in Lublin.

ABSTRACT

The article presents the linguistic and cultural image of corncockle, a plant that is categorized as a weed, a flower or a herb. The full version of the entry for corncockle (Polish: KĄKOL) will be included in the Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols, the volume Mushrooms, Weeds, Plant Clusters, part VIII, edited by Jerzy Bartmiński and Stanisława Niebrzegowska-Bartmińska. In accordance with the assumptions of the cognitive definition, the folk image of corncockle was reconstructed on the basis of linguistic data (including various types of texts of folklore: proverbs, songs, belief stories, written peasant poetry) and the so-called co-linguisticata (i.e. records of beliefs and descriptions of folk practices: ritualis-

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tic, magical, or medicinal). The documentary material comes from the database of the Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols, archived at the Jerzy Bartmiński Ethnolinguistic Unit, UMCS, Lublin.

Field corncockle (Agrostemma githago L.) is a common weed that formerly grew most often in cereal crops. Today, owing to the use of herbicides and more effective cleaning of cereal grains, it is threatened with extinction; consequently, it has been placed on the Polish Red List in category NT (near threatened) – a near-threatened species¹. It is now almost impossible to see field corncockle in its natural habitat, but its seeds can be bought in garden shops, since the weed, once harmful, is now sown in gardens and meadows – it is treated as a flower.

The aim of this article is to present the linguistic and cultural image of corncockle in Polish folk tradition. In keeping with the assumptions of the cognitive definition, which “takes as its principal aim to account for how speakers of a given language conceive of an object” (Bartmiński 1988: 169), the reconstruction of the image of corncockle draws on vocabulary (names, synonyms, phraseological expressions), texts (proverbs, songs, belief narratives, written peasant poetry), as well as folk beliefs and practices, the so-called co-linguistic data (Bartmiński 1996: 11). The documentary material cited comes from the Jerzy Bartmiński Ethnolinguistic Unit at UMCS, where the Lublin Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols (SSiSL)² is being compiled. For the purposes of this article, I have combined the explanatory and documentary sections, which in the Dictionary are usually separate, and included only excerpts from selected texts. The full version of the entry KĄKOL will appear in the final fascicle of the volume devoted to plants: Weeds, Mushrooms, and Plant Clusters.

The folk image of corncockle reveals the following facets, or specific semantic categories, “homogeneous from some point of view” (Bartmiński 1996: 16): names, categorizations, origin, appearance and properties, quantity and place of occurrence, locator, blessing, practices for preventing corncockle, practical, ritual and magical uses, medicinal uses, predictions, and symbolism. The choice and arrangement of facets is not arbitrary; it depends on the type of entry and the adopted superordinate component (Bartmiński 1988: 182) – in the case of corncockle, this is weed.

¹ https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C4%85kol_polny.

² SSiSL was described in greater detail by Katarzyna Prorok in the article: The Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols as an Ethnolinguistic Dictionary (using the entry perz as an example) (Prorok 2023: 54–70).

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CORNCOCKLE

[NAMES] The pan-Slavic name kąkol³ (in Old Polish also kąkolica SStp Urb 3: 263) is related to Lithuanian kanikalas ‘bell, rattle’ and is sometimes traced back to Proto-Slavic *kolkolъ ‘sound-producing instrument (made of fired clay), such as a rattle or clapper’, secondarily ‘bell, tolling bell’, from PIE *kel ‘call, shout, make a sound, resound’ Bor SE 226, similarly Sł SE 2: 118–119. The name kąkol is therefore motivated by the shape of the corncockle flower, which resembles a bell, as confirmed by synonymous names for this plant: dzwoniec SGP PAN 7: 320, dzwonek Udz Biec 145. Brückner connects the name kąkol with Proto-Slavic *kək-, kuk- ‘of any crookedness, bend’, explaining its origin by the flexibility and crooked shape of the stems Dub Ostr 131.

Other synonymous names for corncockle allude to its supposed origin – diabeł SGP PAN 5: 511, diabelskie kwiaty, roślina diabelska Wan Pol 109, diabelskie ziele, bo mówili, że ono jest związane ze złymi mocami Pelc SGLub 5: 124. In turn, the names szatański kwiatuszek, złoducha kwiatki are explained by the appearance of the corncockle flower, because it has such little horns [= little twigs] all around Rog Wag 271, 314 – these are the teeth protruding from beneath the petals (Rogowska 1998: 77). The name zegarki SGŚ Wyd 14: 184 is explained by the resemblance of “the corncockle flower, viewed from above, to a watch face”, since dark little lines resembling hands are visible on its purple petals. Growing among cereal crops, this weed “steals bread” (Rogowska 1998: 77), and is therefore called złodziejem Sych SGKasz 6: 235; perhaps the name przepad Karl SJP 5: 153 has a similar motivation. Because of its black seeds, corncockle is called czarnucha, czarnuszka Karl SJP 1: 746; the names boligłów SGP PAN 2: 367 and szalonka Spól Naz 24 may be connected with the toxic properties of its seeds, although, in Waniakowa’s view, the name boligłów (also referring to cornflower) is more likely associated with the weed’s abundant occurrence in cereal crops, which greatly weakens them and is therefore a source of worry for farmers (Waniakowa 2019: 181).

[CATEGORIZATION] Corncockle is commonly regarded as a weed, for example: Corncockle is a vile weed Pelc SGLub 5: 204, Konkol niby doś taki prijymny, bo filjetowy, ale to tyz chwast Kaś Podh 5: 35, also in folk poetry:

³ Originally, the name kąkol referred to darnel (Lolium temulentum) SStp Urb 3: 262, which, like kąkol, is a poisonous cereal weed; thus, when folklore texts mention kąkol, they may refer to darnel zb. Fisch Roś 188. The name kąkol was also used for campion (Lychnis) and black cumin (Nigella sativa) Maj Słow 1: 129.

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Or those weeds. I pulled them up in the field and pulled them out of myself too..., but I felt sorry for—though the field would, after all, have been cleared of them—those field poppies and pale corncockles. (Stanisław Buczyński; Ad Złote 32);

Jesus looks: empty cottages, empty fields, unsown; thistles and corncockles grow, overgrown with weeds and unwanted. (Maria Majchrzak; Niew Prow 160).

According to Bańkowski, the name kąkol is related to Lithuanian keñkti ‘to harm’ Bań ES 1: 653, so the name of this plant itself implies the hyperonym ‘weed’. Corncockle is also categorized as a kwiat (cf. the name for corncockle—dia-belskie kwiaty), sometimes specified as kwiat polny, dziki: Sò kwiati dzike: chaber abo modrak, kùnkùł, ognicha, mlyć, rùmmiùnek, macierzùnka, barwik Górn Malb 2: 203. In written peasant poetry, it is often mentioned alongside other field flowers: poppy and cornflower:

When you take me, O Jesus, from this beautiful world’s vale, let me take field flowers with me—poppies, corncockles and cornflowers. (Maria Gleń; TL 2005/1–4: 101);

Flowers and herbs, blessings from God, given to people for their benefit and joy, gathered along pilgrims’ paths: chamomiles, marigolds /... / from wheat fields, poppies, cornflowers, corncockles... sung of by the skylark. (Stanisława Łapińska; Niew Pył 111).

Because corncockle was blessed and used in magical and (less often) medicinal practices, it was also called ziele/zioło ‘herb’, for example in the proverb: Although corncockle is not sown, this herb multiplies NKPP corncockle 6, or in a poem:

Birch by the roadside chapel—you showed the first little path to my fathers’ field, where all sorts of herbs grew: poppies, cornflowers, corncockles; and I, a tiny bug, had no idea how much beauty and color I would see here. (Władysław Koczot; TL 1997/3: 13).

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[ORIGIN] It was believed that God sowed the grain, and the devil the corncockle TL 2009/3–4: 44, a belief reflected in the proverb: God makes wheat multiply, and the devil makes corncockle proliferate NKPP wheat 17 (in Kashubia, people said that corncockle is the devil’s wheat Sych SGKasz 2: 229) and in the previously mentioned names for corncockle—devil, devil’s plant, devil’s flowers/herb.

The belief in corncockle’s devilish origin was probably influenced by the New Testament parable of the weeds (in earlier Bible translations, for example that of Jakub Wujek, it was the parable of the corncockle), which Jesus tells to the crowd⁴. He then explains to the apostles (Mt 13, 36–43) that the good seed, the wheat, represents the sons of the kingdom, whereas the weeds are the sons of the Evil One. The enemy who sowed the weeds is the devil. Perhaps this is why in Pomerania people claimed that corncockle should not be pulled up, as this could lead to demonic possession Sych SGKasz 1: 96. It was also believed that Satan tries to tempt the owners of fields where there is a lot of corncockle into sin Fisch Roś 187.

[APPEARANCE AND PROPERTIES] Corncockle grows tall, with long, flexible stems that may bend; see names. These stems often branch, which is why songs refer to a kierż, that is, a corncockle bush, for example:

In a field by the village stands a corncockle bush; it ought to be dug up. I liked a girl at my neighbor’s—if only they’d let me have her! (Pieś Śl 2: 211);

In the bare field at Mazew stands a prickly corncockle bush; don’t flirt with me, lad, you Mazew brat (K 22 Łęcz 197).

Corncockle has little white flowers and some that are pink Pelc SGLub 5: 205. Its flowers are also described as filijetowe Kąś Podh 5: 35, purple Pelc SGLub 5: 205; in Silesian dialect the adjective kąkolowy means violet in color SGŚ Wyd 14: 184. The bell-shaped corncockle flower (hence its names dzwonek, dzwoniec) takie roski [= róźki] wkoło ma (little teeth protruding from beneath the petals), and when viewed from above it resembles a clock face; see names. “Corncockle, God, how pretty it is, and yet so troublesome,” people said Pelc SGLub 5: 205, because when it blooms, it gets these little black balls, which scatter and then grow again⁵

⁴An enemy sowed weeds among the wheat while people were sleeping. The householder does not allow the servants to pull them up, lest in gathering the weeds they also pull up the wheat with them; only at harvest does he tell the reapers: First gather the weeds and tie them into bundles to be burned; but bring the wheat into my granary Mt 13, 24–30.

⁵ In reality, corncockle does not shed its seeds onto the ground—they ripen at the same time as cereal grains, are harvested along with them, and can be sown only in the following season https://www.sgs.com/pl-pl/aktualnosci/2024/05/nasiona-chwastow-w-zbozach.

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SGŚ Wyd 14: 184. The large, thick, black seeds (hence the names czarny kąkol Rost Symb 1: 160, czarnucha, czarnuszka) are poisonous; cf. the phrase od kąkolu oczy płyną ‘tears flow from darnel’ NKPP blekot, obejrzeć się kąkolu ‘to go mad, lose one’s wits’ SOWM 3: 14. According to an informal account, there isn’t a creature in the world that would eat the seed—not horses, not dogs, nobody will eat it; it is terribly bitter TN Śliwnica 1994.

[QUANTITY AND PLACE OF OCCURRENCE] Corncockle was widespread, there was plenty of it TN Chołowice 1998; in a song, soldiers comfort a girl after her beloved’s death:

Don’t cry, maiden, don’t cry, don’t mourn him. A thousand are coming here, choose one for yourself. If only there were as many of you here as corncockles in the field, none of you is as well suited as Jasio. (Wisła 1899: 110).

It was believed that Every field bears corncockles NKPP kąkol 1, There must be corncockle in every grain crop Tred Kasz 132, though it most often grew in wheat and rye:

On the Bachorzeck field the wheat is full of corncockle, while our lord’s wheat is immaculate. (K 35 Przem 48);

In the Zielń field corncockle grows in the rye; when this corncockle blooms, my love, I’ll come to you. (Płat Krak 213).

There was a widespread belief that this weed would not disappear Tred Kasz 132, would not die out NKPP kąkol 3. Yet now they spray it out, so there must be no corncockle Rog Wag 271. As the peasant poet Władysław Koczot observes: for years there have been neither thistles nor corncockle in the grain Niew Prow 111.

[LOCATOR] It was believed that when corncockle grew, the devil, invisible to the human eye, would gladly sit and rest on it. “When corncockle is turned in one’s hand, one can see the devil moving his horns inside it” Sych SGKasz 1: 96. The belief that the devil resides on corncockle is confirmed by belief narratives:

Once the devil was sitting by the road on a corncockle in a field of grain, waiting. When a young woman came along and plucked the flower, the devil immediately entered her. Later, someone drove the devil out of her, but the devil said again: I’ll go sit by the road once more and enter her—or someone else—again. (Sych SKoc 1: 96);

An elderly man from Rzeczyca Długa recounted what had happened to him in a barn around 1920. The day before, he had weeded corncockle out of the wheat. He gathered quite a lot and brought it to the barn, where he piled it up in a corner against the wall... he decided to use this weed

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for bedding for the cattle. Because the corncockle stems were too long, he placed them on a chopping block to chop them into small pieces. When he had chopped the weed stems a few times with the axe, he noticed something moving in the severed pieces lying on the ground. When he began to push them apart in every direction with the axe blade, he saw a little devil cut in half. (Gaj Stal 187).

[BLESSING] Corncockle was not usually blessed, because it is a weed Nieb Przes 155; however, in some regions of Poland it was blessed ZWAK 1890: 213, for example by highlanders on the day of Our Lady of the Herbs (15 VIII), in the belief that this would prevent it from growing in the oats MAAE 1907: 115, Kąś Podh 5: 35.

Kąkol święcono także w wianuszkach w oktawę Bożego Ciała MAAE 1908: 120, TL 1997/2: 21.

[PRACTICES TO PREVENT CORNCOCKLE] It was said that corncockle is the farmer’s enemy TN Śliwnica 1994, because it does great harm to the grain TN Chołowice 1998, and where it grows, there is no bread Sych SGKasz 6: 229. Various practices were therefore used to prevent it from growing among the grain.

First the field was ploughed deeply to clear the soil of weeds—in a song, Janiczek rides out to the field to plough up the corncockle Rog Śląsk 45; corncockle was placed beneath the first furrow turned over, and they sang: Plough, farmer, plough, for you plough well; you will sow wheat, and oats will grow Udz Biec 145. So that “the devil would not sow corncockle,” in the Pogórze region just after midnight between Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, the farmer stuck little crosses made of kokoczka shoots (or other plants) into the field and blessed them with a palm Kot Urok 138. On Easter Monday—according to a folk verse—every farmer in the field throws eggshells, so that he will have no corncockle Lud 1895: 87.

Running around the fields with torches by boys on Pentecost (the Descent of the Holy Spirit) was also believed to prevent corncockle and other weeds, as well as diseases of grain; at that time they would call out:

Run away, corncockle, or I’ll tar you. And I bless and drive away darnel. Run away, rubbish, or I’ll bless you! Shine, shine, run away, rubbish! (Kot Urok 145).

A similar practice took place on the eve of St John’s Day (23 VI): “stalks and herbs, such as corncockle, cornflowers, etc.,” dried in the attic throughout the year, were tied together, stuck on a pole, set alight, and carried around as people called out: Today is the eve of St John’s Day, the bonfire is lit Lud 1902: 424.

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As time went on, the grain was sprayed: When the grain was growing, people took care that too much corncockle and other weeds would not grow. The plots had to be sprayed Kaś Podh 5: 35. If, despite these measures, corncockle grew, it was pulled out—the motif of weeding corncockle is common in poetry and songs, often with symbolic (erotic) meaning:

the last wheat will rustle after you, and no one will now pull the corncockle from it, and all the plots you cherished will turn into wasteland (Stanisław Pudełkiewicz; Wer Ojcz 245);

The young men came back from the war and asked the pretty girls: Have you not seen? Where they go from the field, there they pick wheat from among the corncockle (Wisła 1902: 711);

In Sygneczów, beyond the manor, rye grows with corncockle; go, Mary, weed it, and you’ll meet Johnny and drive him away. Mary went to weed the rye so she could eat white bread; she met Johnny and took him into the rye. But instead of pulling corncockle, they went to sleep in the shade. (Płat Krak 105).

The pulled corncockle was burned:

I would still like to pick ergot from the wheat, to pull out corncockle and thistle for burning (Stanisław Buczyński; Niew Pył 30).

Practices intended to prevent corncockle were also performed on St Gregory’s Day (3 IX), the so-called corncockle feast—in the area around Przemyśl, early in the morning children ran along their father’s field carrying wheat cakes (small loaves and kukiołki), singing:

Corncockle, corncockle, do not grow in our field, but only in the Jewish and the lord’s. The lords and Jews bake themselves cakes, while we poor folk have none at all.

Then they pulled out the corncockle and threw it in every direction. When they reached the end of their field, they sat down and ate their provisions; then they returned to the village to spend the rest of the day celebrating Or L 1930: 17. On Christmas Eve (24 XII), rubbish swept up from the room floor was thrown across the river, into the water, or burned in the field, so that corncockle and other weeds would not destroy the crops Wes Śląsk 215.

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Despite all these measures, cereal grains were often contaminated with corncockle seeds, so they were cleaned—with a sieve Wit Bąj 48 or a grain mill Bart PANLub 3: 84—because flour containing corncockle je carna Dub Ostr 132 and bitter; the Kashubians said of it: mąkol to kąkol Sych SGKasz 3: 123.

[PRACTICAL USES] Corncockle has a pretty flower and flexible stems, so children and girls were fond of weaving wreaths from it (the Latin name for corncockle, Agrostémma, metaphorically means ‘a plant suitable for (used for) weaving wreaths’ Rej Poch 19), which is reflected in songs:

Corncockle, corncockle, do not sow yourself in the field, for the maidens like you and pluck you for wreaths (ZWAK 1890: 213);

She walked through the field, looking for corncockle; she found a little flower and wove a little wreath (Święt Nadr 270);

White Jan, white Jan! Is there not in the manor a lovely Marysia, white Jan! She has a little wreath of corncockle and is looking for boys in the field. White Jan! (Wisła 1899: 664).

Bouquets were made from corncockle; it was said that it made a pretty bouquet TN Chołowice 1998:

The lark, amazed, who trills by the field boundary, chases me away with its twitter: “It is not harvest time yet!” Beneath the roadside pear tree I sit, contrite, and hold a bouquet of corncockles close in my arms (Ewa Jowik; TL 2017/1–2: 54).

Hey, I am the king Among forests, fields of grain, meadows and fields! /…/ The lands of my kingdom I will travel around In less than an hour, Round and round, far and wide, I will sail across a sea of waves of grain, Which bow down to me, Offering their harvests as tribute… Bouquets of flowers, rich With poppies, corncockle, and cornflowers. (Antoni Kucharczyk; Pig Wyb 149).

[RITUAL AND MAGICAL USES] The corncockle flower was used in rituals and magic—at the end of the harvest in the Kraków region, older women wove “wreaths of nettles, thistles, burdock, wolf’s-bane, corncockle, and, in general, all field weeds”; wearing them on their heads, they went to the manor

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together with the girls, who had wreaths of wheat. The master came out onto the manor-house threshold and took the wreaths from the girls’ heads, while the women forcibly put the “aforementioned corncockles” on his head, calling out: If someone takes the good, then let him accept the bad along with it, for things have indeed been mixed up this way in God’s world! K 6 Krak 96.

In Pomerania, people believed that on the day of the Midsummer celebrations (23 VI), witches held a sabbath, and, so they would not deprive the cows of milk, shepherds plaited wreaths of cornflowers, corncockles and daisies, or bluebells, hung them around the cows’ necks or on their horns, and led them, thus adorned, from the pasture to the village Stel Pom 171. When the cows had already been bewitched, the housewives fumigated them with a blessed corncockle flower ZWAK 1890: 213.

On the eve of St John the Baptist (23 VI), people adorned their houses with corncockles, cornflowers, field poppies and vetch Święt Nadr 114. In Mikułowice, on St John’s Day at sunrise, girls decorated figures and wayside shrines with wreaths of cornflowers, corncockles, poppies and mugwort Wisła 1891: 40.

[MEDICINAL USES] Corncockle was rarely used in healing practices because its seeds are poisonous; for this very reason, a decoction made from it was drunk to induce miscarriage Kul Wiel 3: 99.

For a severe rheumatic headache, such that my head is splitting with pain and roaring, the head was covered with corncockle soaked in water MAAE 1907: 144. Catarrh in children was treated by giving them corncockle, pounded, soaked in vinegar and dried, to smell ZWAK 1895: 31.

[PRZEPOWIEDNIE] Uważano, że kąkol w zbożu wygninie, gdy w Wielkim Tygodniu ZWAK 1890: 194, w Wielki Piątek jest mróz ZWAK 1886: 89.

[SYMBOLISM] Corncockle, a weed originating from the devil, symbolizes evil, envy and discord; compare the phrase to sow, spread corncockle ‘to cause evil, discord, envy’ S SFr 1: 322, the old word kąkoleć ‘to become evil’ Karł SJP 2: 311; in Kashubia, kąkolnikiem, kąkolnicą was used to call an evil, worthless person Sych SGKasz 2: 229. This symbolism is strongly entrenched especially in proverbs: There must be corncockle among the wheat [= good and evil occur together] NKPP pszenica 25; Who sows corncockle will reap corncockle [= the consequences of bad deeds are always bad] NKPP kąkol 4; Every field bears corncockle [= bad, undesirable things occur everywhere] NKPP kąkol 1. Corncockle was used figuratively of useless, harmful things and people Sł SE 2: 118; hence the phrase.

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as unnecessary as corncockle in grain ‘completely unnecessary’ S SFr 1: 322, wędzelac kąkol maliciously ‘to keep someone on a life estate’ Sych SGKasz 2: 229.

Corncockle is a symbol of poverty, for example Wheat in a uniform, a nobleman in homespun [= when there is much corncockle in the wheat, the farmer is poor] NKPP pszenica 22; when corncockle grows, there is no bread Sych SGKasz 2: 229. In folk dream books, it signifies a poor harvest Nieb Pol 170.

In flirtatious and love songs, corncockle is sometimes associated with a young man:

In the Kraków field stand two cornflowers — Sandomierz girls like rosy flowers. In the Kraków field stand two corncockles — Sandomierz lads grow like poplars. (MAAE 1910: 199);

In the bare Mazewo field stands a sharp patch of corncockle; don’t count me among your suitors, you Mazewo brat. (K 22 Łęcz 197).

In songs, a girl’s weeding of corncockle is a symbolic image of love:

In the Gocenów field, by the Tarnów border, little Kasia was pulling corncockle from the wheat. With one little hand she plucked the corncockle, and with the other she beckoned little Jaś. (Krzyż Kuj 1: 226);

In my mother’s field there are two acres of corncockle. Who will weed it for us? The little lads will hardly do it. I’ll go and weed it myself, and you, Jaś, come after me. But don’t play games with me, lest someone catch us. (K 21 Rad 38).

In contemporary peasant poetry, because of its beautiful flower, corncockle is seen as an adornment of the field, an element of the native village and of the beauty of this world:

My sandy field, adorned with corncockle flowers, brings the scent of bread into restless homes (Kocz Pól 44);

My village is fields of grain, interwoven with colorful corncockle, flowering hollyhocks before the cottage, and the song of a lark above the field. (Wiesława Szymoniak; Niew Pył 211).

When You take me, O Jesus, from this beautiful valley of the world, let me take with me wildflowers, poppies, corncockles and cornflowers. (Maria Gleń; TL 2005/1–4: 101).

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CONCLUSIONS

Corncockle was once a common, troublesome and noxious weed, growing most often among grain, especially wheat and rye. In folk culture, probably under the influence of the biblical parable, its origin is attributed to the devil; hence the names for corncockle: devil, devil’s flowers, Satan’s little flower, evil spirit’s flowers. These names also emphasize that corncockle has beautiful flowers, which is why children and girls made wreaths from it and bouquets with which they decorated the cottage. Despite its poisonous black seeds, corncockle was used in medicinal practices (for example, for headaches). Like poppy and cornflower⁶, with which it often grew among grain (cf. You have poor grain, only cornflowers, poppies and corncockle Wiet SPog 60), corncockle was sometimes categorized as a flower and an herb. For the peasant farmer, however, it was above all a weed, whose presence in the field reduced the crop and required extra work (deep ploughing, weeding, and burning the uprooted stalks). Today we can admire corncockle—the flower—without a care, now that it no longer “steals” our bread...

SOURCES

Ad Złote – Golden Grains. An Anthology of Contemporary Folk Poetry from the Zamość Region, collected, edited and supplied with an afterword by J. Adamowski, Lublin: Wydawnictwo Lubelskie, 1985.

Bań ES – Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language, A. Bańkowski, vol. 1–2, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2000.

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Gauta 2024-10-26

Priimta 2024-11-07

ANNA KACZAN

THIS IS PRETTY, BUT SO DAMAGING –

THE LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL IMAGE OF CORNCOCKLE IN POLISH FOLK TRADITION

Summary

The article presents the linguistic and cultural image of corncockle (Polish: KĄKOL) in Polish folk tradition, reconstructed within the methodology of Jerzy Bartmiński’s cognitive definition (full application in: Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols). The description is based on lexical data (names, synonyms, phraseological unit), texts (proverbs, songs, written peasant poetry, belief stories), as well as folk beliefs and practices (i.e., the so-called co-linguistic data). The data come from Jerzy Bartmiński’s Ethnolinguistic Unit at UMCS, where the Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols (SSiSL) is being compiled. In Polish folk culture, it was believed that corncockle (unlike wheat) was created by the devil (hence its other names: devil (diabeł), devil’s flower (diabelski kwiatek), devil’s herb (diabelskie ziele)). Corncockle is a weed that usually grows in wheat and rye. However, due to its appearance (beautiful flowers), it is also categorized as a flower (it was used for making bouquets or wreaths), and due to its medicinal

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uses (despite the poisonous black seeds), it was sometimes perceived as a herb. To remove corn cockle from the fields, many measures were used, such as deep ploughing, weeding, or burning of uprooted plants. Corncockle is a symbol of something evil, harmful and useless. In courtship and love songs, the weeding of corn cockle by a girl symbolizes love. In written peasant poetry, corncockle is perceived as a decoration of the field (together with poppies and cornflowers), an element of the native village, and of the beauty of the world.

KEY WORDS: corncockle, stereotype, linguistic and cultural image of the world, Polish folk culture.

ANNA KACZAN Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie Pl. Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej 4A/205 20-031 Lublin [email protected]

ANNA KACZAN

TAI GRAŽŲ, TAČIAU ŽALINGA – RAUGĖS KALBINIS IR KULTŪRINIS VAIZDINYS LENKŲ LIAUDIES TRADICIJOJE

S a n t r a u k a

Straipsnyje pateikiamas lingvistinis ir kultūrinis raugės (lenk. KĄKOL) įvaizdis lenkų liaudies tradicijoje, atkurtas pagal Jerzy Bartmińskio kognityvinio apibrėžimo metodiką (detalus taikymas Liaudies stereotipų ir simbolių žodyne). Aprašymas paremtas leksikos duomenimis (pavadinimais, sinonimais, frazeologiniais vienetais), tekstais (patarlėmis, dainomis, rašytine valstiečių poezija, tikėjimų pasakojimais), taip pat liaudies tikėjimais ir praktika (t. y. vadinamaisiais bendraisiais kalbiniais duomenimis). Duomenys gauti iš Jerzy Bartmińskio etnolingvistikos skyriaus UMCS, kur rengiamas Liaudies stereotipų ir simbolių žodynas (SSiSL). Lenkų liaudies kultūroje buvo tikima, kad raugę (kitaip nei kvietį) sukūrė velnias (iš čia ir kiti jos pavadinimai: velnias (diabel), velnio gėlė (diabelski kwiatek), velnio žolė (diabelskie ziele)). Raugė yra piktžolė, kuri dažniausiai auga kviečiuose ir rugiuose. Tačiau dėl savo išvaizdos (gražių žiedų) ji taip pat priskiriama gėlių kategorijai (buvo naudojama puokštėms ar vainikams pinti), o dėl medicininės paskirties (nepaisant nuodingų juodų sėklų) kartais buvo suvokiama kaip vaistažolė. Raugės iš laukų šalintos įvairiai, pavyzdžiui, giliai ariant, ravint ar deginant išrautus au-

ANNA KACZAN. Jakie to ładne, a takie szkodne – obraz kąkolu w polskiej kulturze ludowej

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galus. Raugė yra ko nors blogo, žalingo ir nenaudingo simbolis. Piršlybų ir meilės dainose mergelė, ravinti rauges, simbolizuoja meilę. Rašytinėje valstiečių poezijoje raugės suvokiamos kaip lauko puošmena (kartu su aguonomis ir rugiagėlėmis), gimtojo kaimo, pasaulio grožio elementas.

ESMINIAI ŽODŽIAI: raugė, stereotipas, kalbinis ir kultūrinis pasaulio vaizdas, lenkų liaudies kultūra.

ANNA KACZAN

Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie

Pl. Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej 4A/205

20-031 Lublin

[email protected]

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