Authors

Discussion

The paper defines the notions of magic and sorcery in the eighteenth-century South Slavonic culture. The main source used for linguistic analysis is the Women's Collection by Yosif Bradati, which played an active role in supporting the church's anti-witchcraft practices.

The study explains the scope of the sorcerer theme and its mythological foundations, identifies terms designating persons dealing with occult practices by describing their typical actions (which do not always have a negative connotation). Special attention is paid to magical techniques, ritual verbal formulas, as well as the role of women in these activities and their connection with evil forces. Other characters present in Slavic demonology and having an identical set of characteristics are indicated.

In order to present the linguistic material from this eighteenth-century Bulgarian collection of didactic sermons to an interdisciplinary academic community, a typed text of a fragment of the Women's collection and its translation into modern Bulgarian is prepared.