Distribution and usage of folk names for the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) in Ukraine

Distribution and usage of folk names for the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) in Ukraine. - V.N. Grishchenko. - Berkut. 34 (1). 2025. - Over 40 years (1986–2025), I have collected more than 3,500 registrations of folk names of the White Stork in 2,764 points in all regions and AR Crimea. In total, 110 variants of 30 names have been registered. All these names were combined into 4 groups: main, local, foreign-language, and erroneous. Four main names have the highest frequency of use: buz’ko (25.2% of the total number of registrations), chornohuz (20.5%), leleka (18.6%), busol (16.4%). Two other names are much less common – bociun (7.8%) and haister (3.9%). All the main names are variable, they have numerous variants. Local names occurred only in small areas or were generally registered solely in individual settlements (bovdur, zhaboyid, klekoten’, etc.). Foreign-language names were common in border areas and places of living of different ethnic groups (Russian name aist, Moldovan – cocostîrc, Hungarian – gólya, etc.). Erroneous names are used for the White Stork due to confusion with other similar-looking birds – cranes and herons. The old names sterk and nekleyka have already ceased to be used. There is a tendency towards the gradual displacement of less common names by more well-known ones. All the main names of the White Stork in Ukraine are regional. Their ranges overlap, but, if we do not take into account individual remote inclusions and secondary distribution, they have a clear geographical reference: buz’ko – most of West Ukraine east to Podillia, partly – Polissya; bociun – northwest; busol – north; haister – northeast; leleka and chornohuz – most of the territory of Ukraine from Northern Bukovina and Podillia to the northeast and east. In the western part of Ukraine, the ranges of the main names (buz’ko, bociun, and busol) overlap only partially, but in general they complement each other. To the east of Podillia, the picture is completely different. The ranges of the names chornohuz and leleka coincide almost completely, regional differences are only in the frequency of their use. The range of the name haister lies within the ranges of the other two names. This difference may be due to the fact that in the western part of Ukraine, where the Galicia-Volyn state survived after the Mongol-Tatar invasion, they arose and spread more slowly and over a longer period of time. A significant part of the territory of Central Ukraine and the Left Bank Area was devastated and remained sparsely populated for a long time due to constant Tatar raids. It began to be actively settled only in the 16th–17th centuries. A large number of settlements appeared, and storks followed people. New names of this bird arose here. This is the purely Ukrainian name chornohuz and loan from Turkic languages leleka. Over time, they spread in different directions, sometimes displacing the old names. [Ukrainian].