The expressivity of the figurative language in romanian incantations

Abstract

Romanian incantations have been researched thoroughly, both from the perspective of a “magical vision of the Romanian peasant” (Gheorghe Pavelescu) and from the specific language perspective. Thus, it is important to start well and to stat well means to start from the definitions of incantations. What is an incantation? In the Romanian language, there are different terms for incantation and its actions: “descântec”, “vrajă”, “făcătură”, “farmec”, “boscon”, “năvrăjie” etc. This richness regarding the word “incantation” in Romanian speaks about the great consideration the people have had for magical phenomena. Some distinctions must be made between the incantation and the undoing – defensive magic, and between incantation and the charms and spells, which represent the offensive magic.