"yellow house" in Russian

[Madelaine Hron]

Hi Natalia --

Interesting question. Perhaps it has something to do with humoral
theory as developed from Hippocrates and Avicennus. In humoral theory,
yellow bile was thought to be responsible for choleric outbursts, an
emotional mental state, thus perhaps madness... Interestingly, in eastern
medicine the chakra associated with mental state is also associated with
the color yellow... You might want to search the web for some of these
terms...

Good luck,
Madelaine


On Wed, 11 Jun 2003, Jennifer Croft wrote:

> Hi,
> This might not (probably won't) help you at all, but your question
> reminded me of some information I had read about Charlotte Perkins
> Gilman's use of yellow as a symbol of mental illness in her story "The
> Yellow Wallpaper."  I know that a lot of research has been done to trace
> the origins of this usage--maybe you could find something in that?
> Anyway, I hope you get lots of more relevant responses!  :)
> Best,
> Jennifer Croft
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
> [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Natalia Samoilova
> Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 3:30 AM
> To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
> Subject: [SEELANGS] "yellow house" in Russian
>
> Dear Seelangers,
>
> Does anybody know the history of the expression zheltyj dom "mental
> hosptal" in Russian? All I know is that it was used already in the early
> 19th c. (e.g. Pushkin "Ura! V Rossiju skachet..."). Why it is yellow?
> Can you possibly suggest any on-line resourses which could help here?
>
> Thank you,
> Natalia Samoilova.
>
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