A Cognitive Definition as a Mode of Describing a Symbol: A Case Study of the Number Seven

This article seeks to apply a cognitive definition to describe the symbolism of numbers. First, the theoretical aspects of the ethno-linguistic research method are outlined. This part presents the main foundations of the method, in particular, a cognitive definition as a mean of reconstructing the linguistic and cultural imaginary from the anthropocentric perspective. The concept of a symbol is presented as well, as a fundamental category in deciphering the meaning of the world by traditional culture bearers. The second part of the article presents a practical application of the theory, the cognitive definition of the number seven. The pre-existing sources (data from published dictionaries and monographs), as well as data collected by the author in the course of fieldwork, are ordered using “facets”, which reflect the semantic structure of the number seven in the folk culture. The cognitive definition of the number seven consists of the following facets: “name”, “collections”, “equivalences”, “number as a measure”, “semantics of the seventh item”. The proposed definition is not yet a completed project and can be extended by other domains