Water in Romanian Incantations and in the Incantations of the Romanian-Speaking Population of the Timok Valley

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2024-2/228-245

Abstract

The article considers the concept of water both in the narrow functional plane as an element of the subject sphere of the actional component of an incantation and as an image in its verbal component (in text). The main sources of the study are the Romanian spells of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, represented in the collections of Romanian researchers such as S. Fl. Marian, E. Niculice-Voronca, E. Hodos and A. Gorovei, the incantations of the Romanian-speaking population of the Timok River valley collected by C. Sandu-Timok, contemporary researchers S. Gacovici and V. Popovic, as well as texts and descriptions of incantation rituals collected by the author together with N. Golant in expeditions to the Eastern Serbia in 2018 and 2019. The paper presents different names of the types of water used in Romanian incantations. Using the example of an incantation from the collection of S. Fl. Marian the author demonstrates the close connection between the actional and verbal components of the incantation, where water plays an organizing role and is represented in a dynamic process of transition from one type to another (flowing, special, incantated, etc.). Water is a basic element of many therapeutic and love incantations and divination practices. Examples covered in this article show that water is endowed with a special magical power and is an element uniting the actional and verbal components.