ONE TYPE OF CHRONONYMS IN THE RUSSIAN FOLK CALENDAR

The paper deals with the names of holidays that contain an imperative, for example Avdotya-zamochi podol ‘Avdotya, wet the hem of your skirt’ or Arina-razorvi berega ‘Arina, tear the shores’. In such nominations, the imperative does not have its usual function of motivation, and the name of the saint cannot be consider the addressee or potencial performer of the action. The whole calendar formula can be read as an indicative statement: «On the day of Avdotya (Evdokia), 1/14 March, it is so wet, that you can get your hem wet» and «On the day of St. Irina, 16/29 April, there is fl ood that breaks the banks». Such non standard imperative function is also characteristic of certain types of composites (e. g. perekati-pole, sorvigolova, skopidom ets.). In some cases, however, the imperative retains the semantics of an instruction, but its addressee is not a saint (or personified holiday), but the «user» of the calendar information. For example, the chrononym Afanasy-beregi nos ‘Athanasius, take care of your nose’ contains an appeal not to Athanasius, but to any person who is advised to take care of their nose, since on the day of St. Athanasius, January 18/31, there is a severe frost, and one can freeze their nose.