Balkan Wolf/Dog in Folklore Interpretations in the Mythology of Nature by N. Nodilo through T. R. Đorđević to Lj. Radenković and P. Plas

Abstract

This interpretive timeline presents (not necessarily in chronological order) the imaginary of the “Balkan” wolf/dog in South Slavic customs and beliefs from Natko Nodilo, through T. R. Đorđević and Lj. Radenković, all the way to contemporary cultural animal studies research by P. Plas (the author employs a methodology that integrates ethnolinguistic/semiotic and linguistic-anthropological and ethnopoetic approaches), contextually related to other Slavs and Indo-European comparative mythology in the framework of archetypal wolf/dog phobias (lupophobia, kinophobia). While Nodilo relies on A. de Gubernatis’ interpretation of nature mythology, T. R. Đorđević follows the ethnographic material of the South Slavs (as for Croatia, he carefully researched, among other things, the wolf/dog entries in the Collection of Folk Life and Customs of the South Slavs), and Lj. Radenković semiotically observes the wolf/dog in the symbolism of the world of the South Slavs, where he notes that the closest domestic animals to man are the horse, sheep, cow and ox, followed by the bull, goat, donkey, hen, pig, dog and cat. So-called wild animals are arranged in relation to the god-shepherd (God’s shepherd) – the bear is closest to him, and the wolf is the farthest.Interpretativni časovni pregled predstavlja (ne nujno v kronološkem zaporedju) domišljijski lik »balkanskega« volka/psa v južnoslovanskih običajih in verovanjih, od Natka Nodila, prek T. R. Đorđevića in Lj. Radenkovića vse do sodobnih kulturnih raziskav živali P. Plasa (avtor uporablja metodologijo, ki združuje etnolingvistični/semiotični in jezikoslovno-antropološki ter etnopoetični pristop), kontekstualno povezano z drugimi Slovani in indoevropsko primerjalno mitologijo v okviru arhetipskih fobij volkov/psov (lupofobija, kinofobija). Medtem ko se Nodilo opira na A. de Gubernatisovo interpretacijo mitologije narave, T. R. Đorđević sledi etnografskemu gradivu južnih Slovanov (kar zadeva Hrvaško, je med drugim skrbno raziskal vpise o volku/psu v Zbirki ljudskega življenja in običajev južnih Slovanov), Lj. Radenković pa semiotsko opazuje volka/psa v simboliki sveta južnih Slovanov, kjer ugotavlja, da so človeku najbližje domače živali konj, ovca, krava in vol, sledijo pa jim bik, koza, osel, kokoš, prašič, pes in mačka. Tako imenovane divje živali so razvrščene v odnosu do boga-pastirja (Božjega pastirja) – medved mu je najbližji, volk pa najbolj oddaljen