Folk etymology in Rudolf Skotnický's etymological dictionary Cover Image

Ľudová etymológia v etymologickom slovníku Rudolfa Skotnického
Folk etymology in Rudolf Skotnický's etymological dictionary

Author(s): Natália Glaap
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Comparative Linguistics
Published by: Slavistický ústav Jána Stanislava Slovenskej akadémie vied
Keywords: folk etymology; Etymology; Rudolf Skotnický; Associativeness; Comparative linguistics;

Summary/Abstract: The focuss of the presented paper lays on the analysis of Rudolf Skotnický's conceptual work entitled Material for an etymological dictionary, which is most likely the first comprehensive etymological dictionary in the Slovak linguistic environment. However, in his attempt to provide an etymological interpretation of individual words, R. Skotnický does not proceed in accordance with contemporary etymological knowledge, and when clarifying the genesis of words, he often starts from the sound and meaning similarity with words that have a completely different origin. This way of etymological interpretation is called folk etymology. The purpose of our work is to demonstrate folk etymological derivation using examples of specific words from the mentioned dictionary. At the same time, we compare the individual analyzes with contemporary etymological works.

  • Issue Year: 58/2023
  • Issue No: 01
  • Page Range: 122-137
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Slovak