Balalaieva, O.
(2025).
Factors of semantic motivation of scientific plant names.
International Journal of Philology,
16(1),
9-22.
https://doi.org/10.31548/philolog/1.2025.09
Scientific plant names are a valuable lexical layer for studying categorisation as a process of verbalised ordering of knowledge of the environment, specific to each variant of the scientific and language picture of the world. The aim of the paper was to analyse the factors determining the semantic motivation of scientific names of weeds in Latin and Ukrainian. The study used etymological and semantic analysis of phytonyms, comparative method and generaliation. The research material was 100 binomial plant names, obtained as a result of continuous sampling from the guide of weeds in Ukraine. The paper investigated productive patterns of plant scientific names’ formation in the Latin and Ukrainian languages, examined the main motives for plant naming in both languages. This study showed that the scientific plant names of in both languages are motivated by a combination of several common aspects including appearance, properties, place of occurrence, use and other fixed in the generic name and specific epithet. The findings confirmed the conclusions of modern research that the mechanism of nomination is based on the semantic motivation of phytonyms, determined by the choice of the motivator from the zone of information predominantly about the appearance (shape, colour, size, similarity of plants or their parts) and properties (taste, smell, tactile sensation, positive and negative properties). The results can be used in the training of specialists in the field of knowledge “Agrarian Sciences and Food”
naming of plants; motives for naming; phytonyms; generic name; specific epithet; etymology; Latin; Ukrainian
[1] Bagli, М. (2021). Wort plant names in contemporary English. Their semantic motivation and morphological structure. Iperstoria, 18, 308-338. doi: 10.13136/2281-4582/2021.i18.1037.
[2] Blažek, V. (2018). Іndo-European dendronyms in the perspective of external comparison. Journal of Indo-European Studies, 46(1/2), 1-45.
[3] Boháčová, M. (2022). A contribution to the study of phytonyms. Acta Onomastica, 63(1), 55-68.
[4] Buława, M. (2023). Dialect plant names semantically derived from names of diseases. LingVaria, 18(2), 225-242. doi: 10.12797/LV.18.2023.36.15.
[5] Caceres-Lorenzo, M.T., & Salas-Pascual, M. (2022). What do phytonyms name? The definition of plant names in academic dictionaries. Revue Romane, 57(2), 343-366.
[6] Dębowiak, P., & Waniakowa, J. (2019). Semantic motivation of plant names as a part of their etymology. In The landscape of lexicography (pp. 173-200). Lisboa: Centre for Linguistics of the University of Lisbon & Centre for Languages, Literatures and Cultures of the University of Aveiro.
[7] Drăgulescu, R. (2024). A research on Romanian phytonims created with the Latin originated term “iarbă” (herb) IV. Revista Transilvania, 2, 87-96. doi: 10.51391/trva.2024.02.10.
[8] Genaust, H. (2017). Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. Hamburg: Nikol.
[9] Gledchill, D. (2008). The names of plants. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[10] Kosolap, M.P., Ivanyuk, M.F., Primak, I.D., Anisimova, A.A., & Babenko, A.I. (2022). Atlas of weeds. Kyiv: National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine.
[11] Kravchenko, N., Yemets, N., & Kurbal-Hranovska, O. (2022). Metaphorical folk names of English and Ukrainian homeopathic plants: Comparative analysis in cognitive and linguocultural framework. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 12(2), 367-374. doi: 10.17507/tpls.1202.20.
[12] Melnychuk, O.S., Bilodid, I.K., Kolomiets, V.T., & Tkachenko, O.B. (Eds). (1982). Etymological dictionary of the Ukrainian language (Vol. 1). Kyiv: Naukova dumka.
[13] Panasenko, N. (2021). Cognitive linguistics and phytonymic lexicon. In The Routledge handbook of cognitive linguistics (pp. 585-598). New York: Routledge.
[14] Panasenko, N. (2024). The notion of size from psychological, cognitive, and linguistic points of view. Lege Artis. Language Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, 9(2), 57-74. doi: 10.34135/lartis.24.9.2.04.
[15] Peruzzi, L. (2020). Using scientific names guarantees universality of communication in science… but are plant biologists aware of it? Plant Biosystems – An International Journal Dealing with All Aspects of Plant Biology, 154(6), 1000-1002. doi: 10.1080/11263504.2020.1736203.
[16] Sabadosh, I.V. (2014). History of Ukrainian botanical vocabulary (XIX – beg. XX). Uzhhorod: Uzhhorod National University.
[17] Svystunova, I., Zakhliebaiev, M., Chumachenko, I., Poltoretskyi, S., Solomon, V., Senyk, I., & Shuvar, A. (2024). Formation of the yield of the above-ground mass of white sweetclover in single-species and combined crops in the conditions of the right-bank Forest Steppe of Ukraine. Scientific Reports of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, 20(1). doi: 10.31548/dopovidi.1(107).2024.008.
[18] Szwajczuk А. (2023). Semantic motivation of plant names – a contrastive analysis of Latin, Polish and English. Szczecin: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego.
[19] Urniaż, А.J. (2021). Shapes in botanical names: A polyconfrontative approach. Academic Journal of Modern Philology, 12, 219-229. doi: 10.34616/ajmp.2021.12.
[20] Usyk, L. (2017). Cognitive and onomasiological reconstruction of the evaluative component in the semantics of phytonyms (on the material of the names of medicinal plants in German, English, Russian and Ukrainian). (Doctoral thesis, National Pedagogical Drahomanov University, Kyiv, Ukraine).
[21] Vaan, M. (2018). Etymological dictionary of Latin and the other Italic languages. Leiden, Boston.
[22] Villalva, A., et al. (2019). “Daisies” in some European languages: A survey of lexical knowledge. In The Landscape of Lexicography (pp. 201-280). Lisboa: Centre for Linguistics of the University of Lisbon & Centre for Languages, Literatures and Cultures of the University of Aveiro.
[23] Waniakowa, J. (2021). Dialectal names of plants as a reflection of dialect users’ attitude towards the nature (Historical and comparative approach). Poradnik Jezykowy, 3, 45-59. doi: 10.33896/PorJ.2021.3.4.