Is the Tishinka Quiet? An Ethnolinguistic Commentary on the Russian Dialect Word Tishina ‘Childhood Illness’

Abstract

This article presents an attempt at ethnolinguistic understanding of one childhood disease, which is called in the Russian dialect tishinka. The territory of the dialectal tishina is established (with the variants utishinka, tichij, tichon’kij, etc.), the circle of meanings assigned to the lexeme is given. The semantic spectrum of the word is non-uniform: tishina refers to various severe childhood diseases (seizures (epilepsy), paralysis, hernia, tetanus, malaria, rickets, etc.). However, for the national consciousness, the differential characteristics of such ailments are insignificant, which is why tishina is often perceived as any disease dangerous to a child’s life. The practices of traditional medicine are analyzed in detail, which include the disease in question in a number of diseases of unclear or magical etiology. The treatment of tishina with spells (zagovor or prigovor) – means widely used in the Russian countryside – is known to modern informants, but the spell texts themselves are not reproduced fully. The action part of the healing rite can be represented by the following ritual actions: soothing / comforting, soaring in the bath, taking measurements from the patient, “cutting” the disease, treating with holy water, herbs, covering the child with a tablecloth. The concretization of a separate method is carried out due to folk etymological approaches: St. Tikhon is chosen as a mystical assistant, his icon used in the consecration of water for the rite. The word tishina itself should be qualified as a euphemism that arose as a result of the practice of tabooing the names of serious diseases.

Received: 12.11.2024.
Revised: 04.02.2025.
Accepted: 18.03.2025.

Citation
Makshakova T. A. Is the Tishinka Quiet? An Ethnolinguistic Commentary on the Russian Dialect Word Tishina ‘Childhood Illness’ // Slavic Almanac. 2025. No 1–2. P. 281–296 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073-5731.2025.1-2.12