Table 2 Documentary material and a characteristic of the described plant
Documentary material | A characteristic of the described plant that has been filtered out and assigned to a semantic category/segment of the definition |
|---|---|
[Ethnographic description] “The black elder was not only terrible in Bieśnik, it could be found everywhere. In some areas, it was also called the “watered elder” since herbal water, in which a man suffering from rheumatism was bathed, was poured under the elder shrubs”. [45] | Water, in which a sick person suffering from rheumatism was bathed, was poured under the black elder → medicinal use The black elder was called the watered elder → names The black elder was categorised as a shrub → categorisations |
[Legend] “When Judas betrayed the Lord [Jesus] and then doubted himself, he decided that he would hang himself. However, he could not find a suitable tree for this, for they were all too tall. Then he saw a black elder shrub growing by the roadside and hanged himself on it. By doing so, he stigmatised the plant, and the stigma is still a reminder of the unfortunate event. The leaves, flowers and fruit of this shrub have a corpse-like smell”. [50] | Judas hung himself on the black elder → locator The black elder has an unpleasant (corpse-like) smell since Judas hung himself on it → the appearance and properties of the black elder are categorised as a shrub → categorisations |
[Ethnographic description] “On this [St John’s] feast day they harvest elderberries against sweats, and this elderberry they dry for the whole year”. [71] | The elderberry was harvested on St. John’s eve → harvest time; Dried elderberries were used as a sweat-inducing remedy → medicinal use |
[Ethnographic description] “The cut tangle was tied in a rag together with a few cents and put in a hollow in a tree or in holes in the church wall, or thrown into wild black elder shrubs (called gościec—rheumatism), on crossroads […] and sometimes buried in the ground”. [66] | The cut tangle was thrown into black elder shrubs → medicinal use The black elder was called gościec → names The black elder is categorised as a shrub → categorisations |
[Popular account] “The stinky elderberry is a cure for various diseases, the berries used to be picked and dried”. [42] | The black elder has an unpleasant smell → appearance and properties The black elder was called stinky elderberry → names Dried elderberries were used as medicine → medicinal use |