THE LOCH-NAMES AS THE REFLECTION OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL AND CULTURAL IDENTITY
Abstract
The article describes the toponymic space, which the Scottish loch-names form. The loch-names are considered as the reflection of the national and cultural identity of the Scots. The etymology of loch and loch-names themselves reveals the historical, geographic, national and cultural components of the Scottish lifestyle. The semantics of the appellative ‘loch’ differentiates three types of waterbodies: a firth, an inner fresh water lake and a lake with the peat ground. It shows the culture-specific elements of Scotland, the special historically-conditioned attitude of the Scots to nature and the feature of spiritualization and worshipping of nature. The worshipping of it is discovered in the corpus of the loch-names with animal-names, which emphasize the significance of animals such as the deer, the horse, the swan and the trout in the Celtic mythology. The loch-names telling about monsters, evil spirits and mysterious creatures, points at the Scottish fondness of legends, mysticism and their belief in the supernatural world.
About the Author
M. M. Pentsova
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Mariya Mikhailovna Pentsova – Assistant Professor of Department of the English Landguage №3
76, Prospect Vernadskogo, Moscow, 119454
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Review
For citations:
Pentsova M.M. THE LOCH-NAMES AS THE REFLECTION OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL AND CULTURAL IDENTITY. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies. 2017;(10):108-113. (In Russ.)
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