VOCABULARY MEANING ‘DEAD’ AND ‘COFFIN’ IN FUNERAL RITES OF EASTERN AND SOUTH-EASTERN SERBIA

Abstract

The work presents vocabulary with the meaning of ‘dead’ and ‘coffin’ in the funeral rites of eastern and south-eastern Serbia. A funeral rite is an important part of a person’s life cycle; it marks the end of a person’s life and, according to popular belief, represents the transition of the soul to another world. The researcher uses the comparative method and the method of semantic reconstruction, and also carries out etymological and lexical-semantic analysis to show the relationship between the linguistic and extralinguistic aspects of folk rituals. Based on the provisions of the Moscow ethnolinguistic school, the following tasks are set: to analyze dialect vocabulary with the meanings ‘dead’ and ‘coffin’ in eastern and south-eastern Serbia in funeral rites, taking into account etymology and semantics, to determine the main ways of word formation of vocabulary with the meaning ‘dead’ and ‘coffin’, identify Balkan (non-Slavic) features, and also highlight some beliefs and customs associated with the deceased in the Serbian funeral rite.