From the history of the development of paremiology in Ukraine: studying the origins of proverbs in writings by Hryhoriy Ilkevych and Ivan Franko

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the paremiological achievements of Hryhoriy Ilkevych and Ivan Franko. Hryhoriy Ilkevych is the compiler of the collection "Tales and Riddles from Halychyna" and the first folklorist who started commenting on proverbs. In addition to short explanatory notes aimed at interpreting the "obscure" meaning of the proverb, Hryhoriy Ilkevych indicated the source of the origins of the mentioned text. In the comments, the researcher most often pointed to the connection between paroemies and the genre of fairy tales, as well as he identified that certain proverbs and sayings had emerged on the basis of the repertoire of fairy tales. Taking the experience of his predecessor into account, Ivan Franko claimed that the issue of the genesis of proverbs was perhaps the most difficult task of paremiology. That is why this topic became a fundamental point in his corpus "Ukrainian folk proverbs from Halychyna". Continuing the tradition of researching Ukrainian proverbs according to the source of their origin, the researcher especially focused on intergeneric mutual influences. He traced the basis of narrative units from another genre, since this particular scheme remained the least researched one in the general paradigm of paremic formation. Ivan Franko expanded the possibilities of the theoretical investigation of the origins of proverbs. In his collection, the researcher used numerous illustrations to represent the transformational stages through which the proverb passes. In this way, it is possible to trace how the process of shortening and reducing from a more voluminous genre to a laconic form of paroemias takes place. As a result, the newly formed nuclear expression ceases to undergo further formal changes and acquires the characteristics of a paremic genre. Taking into account the valuable achievements of Hryhoriy Ilkevych, Ivan Franko came to the conclusion: the proverb is a genetically heterogeneous genre, and its emergence is connected with direct verbal reflections on typical life situations, as well as it follows the reduction of voluminous literary pieces (stories, anecdotes, legends, fairy tales, etc.) to a laconic proverbial formula.