Finno-Permic Phytonymic Portraits: Common Chickweed - Stellaria Media

Abstract

The paper provides a phytonymic portrait of common chickweed (Stellaria media L.) in the Finno-Permic languages that form a branch of the Finno-Ugric language family, the other being that of the Ugric languages. Chickweed usually grows in damp shady places in gardens or parks, close to human habitation - in fields, along roads, on banks of ponds, ditches and lakes. The plant is widely considered a malignant weed. The study covers all the known common names of chickweed in the mentioned group of languages (numbering about fifty). Their origin as well as issues of the plant’s nomination have been studied. Most of the names of chickweed under consideration are found in the Baltic Finnic languages. Chickweed is a most severe weed but it is also used for medicinal purposes as well as for feeding cattle and poultry. Additionally, chickweed is used in folk medicine. All this is reflected in the names of the plant. Some names of chickweed are based on its other properties: its favorite place of growth (in damp shady places in gardens, parks and near human habitations - in fields, along roads, along shores of ponds, ditches and wastelands), the form of the whole plant and especially its flower, outward similarity of Stellaria media with other plants. Models according to which names of chickweed were created are often quite original and almost never repeat themselves even within separate languages. With some minor exceptions, names of chickweed can be easily etymologized. Many composite names of chickweed are results of this plant’s nomination based on two signs. A good amount of the collected phytonyms in the Finno-Ugric languages allows for a comprehensive research including etymological and structural semantic studies. The author of this article hopes to explore and describe the most common names of plants in the Finno-Ugric languages in his further works.