LINGUOCULTURAL PECULIARITIES OF GERMAN PROVERBS WHICH CONTAIN DENOMINATIONS OF CRAFT-ORIENTED PROFESSIONS

Abstract

This article focuses on the study of the linguocultural peculiarities of German proverbs which contain denominations of craft-oriented professions. It is within proverbs that the centuries-old practical experience of a nation, and its accumulated life-related wisdom and moral values are incorporated and the attention is focused mainly on the individual himself, who is a language-based personality of an ultimately multi-faceted nature. This article provides an analysis of the lexico-semantic, word-formative and gender-linked specifics of the names of handicraft-oriented professions, many of which date back to the early Middle Ages; it demonstrates the frequency with which these names occur and illuminates the culture-related historical content of the proverbs which contain these denominations. This article describes some of the specific features of the production activities of German craftsmen of the Middle Ages (potters, smiths, millers, tailors, carpenters and many others), dealing with the production tools and the working conditions of that time, as well as materials which the craftsmen used, their items of clothing, their units of measurement, and the manner in which the production process was organized. Particular attention is devoted to the professional traits of the craftsmen and to their observance of the moral and ethical norms of the society of their era, as well as to the members of professions which were “outlawed” in medieval Germany.