In this article, dialect expressions for the word “fever” (SLA 486) – shivering, with a strong sensation of cold before a sudden rise in body temperature – are presented. According to traditional belief, there are several kinds of fever and high body temperature conditions, which is also reflected in the vast dialect lexis in this semantic field. As to the reason for their appearance, two antonymous groups can be identified: the first is composed of lexemes connected with sensations of cold, the other with sensations of heat, while many adopted terms imply both meanings. Data compiled for the Slovene linguistic atlas is mapped according to the methods of Slovene and Slavic linguistic
geography. In the second part of the article, a short presentation of the traditional treatment of fever in Prekmurje is presented (dialect narration by an informant).
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