The opposition of “masculine – feminine” in Polish and Ukrainian proverbs

This article identifies the opposition between ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ in Polish and Ukrainian proverbs. Based on the phraseological and paremiological material of the compared languages, the criteria for distinguishing individuals of the male and female sex are defined and characterized. These criteria include perspectives on family planning and ways of falling in love, physical strength and endurance, appearance, and attitude towards it, intellectual abilities, topics of conversation, emotion and temperament, and the nature of the work performed. Both Polish and Ukrainian proverbs convey an unequivocally positive attitude towards marriage for women, while men’s views on marriage, reflected in proverbs and sayings, are contradictory: they contain negative connotations, emphasize the positive aspects of creating a family, or combine polar opinions. The phraseological and paremiological material of both languages reflects changes in the behavior and character of representatives of both sexes after marriage. Changes in young women are represented by a larger number of examples and have a pronounced negative character, in contrast to the positive or insignificant negative changes after the marriage of young men. The author identifies nominations for denoting individuals of the male and female sex, which constitute oppositions; characterizes the means of their verbalization, and identifies the character traits by which men and women are contrasted in Polish and Ukrainian proverbs: communicativeness, conflict, perseverance/stubbornness, and extravagance. The article shows the leading role of the man in the family, the dominant position of the woman in housekeeping, and the condemnation of men who have fallen under the power of women, as reflected in proverbs and sayings. Proverbs of both languages reflect physical violence against women in traditional society as a natural phenomenon. The number of Ukrainian examples in which a man is shown as a victim of physical or moral violence on the part of his wife is significantly greater compared to Polish ones. Keywords: paremias, proverbs, sayings, Polish, Ukrainian, opposition of ‘masculine – feminine’, means of verbalization, nominations for men/women.