The word "folklore" (musical and literary oral folklore) is translated into Russian as "folk wisdom". The term "gave" to us the Old English language, which is the difference between this word from many others, "owing" their origin to Latin and Ancient Greek. And, perhaps, no one will argue with the fact that this name fully corresponds to the content: folk traditions, experience and views of our ancestors on the world around them are reflected in folklore works, that is, in fact, age-old folk wisdom has been collected and passed on to us, descendants …
Folklore is songs and dances, legends, epics and instrumental tunes, which do not have an author: they lead an "oral way of life", being passed from one performer to another and at the same time often changing. And it happens that the variations of the same song, gleaned by collectors of folklore in different sources, differ significantly from each other.
Nevertheless, even a person who is not familiar with folklore will never confuse a Russian folk song, for example, with a Georgian or Kazakh, because each of them was born to a certain people with only their own way of life, history and rituals. That is why folklore works are unique, for example, only in Russian folk art there are epics, in Ukrainian - thoughts, etc.
And now a little history. In the ancient world, verbal creativity was born from the religious and mythical views of a person, was associated with his labor activity and carried the sources of future scientific knowledge. The rituals with the help of which our distant ancestors tried to influence the world around them and their own destiny were accompanied by spells and conspiracies, to trees, water, wind and other "representatives" of nature, requests were conveyed through words or threats were expressed to them. And gradually, verbal creativity emerged as an independent art form.
In the ancient and medieval world, a heroic epic appears, as well as legends and songs that carry religious beliefs. A little later, people begin to put together historical songs that tell about real events and glorify heroes. Social changes in social life and the development of industry entail the birth of new genres. So, in Russian folklore, soldier, coachman, burlak songs, worker, school and student folklore appear.
And in conclusion, it should be noted that some folklore genres "produce" new works, while others, although they continue to exist, do not. For example, even today ditties, anecdotes and sayings are heard, the author of which is the people. But new folk tales and epics do not appear, only old ones are told.
