Вук и Његош на стази богаћења лексичког фонда српског језика
Vuk and Njegoš on the Path of Serbian Vocabulary Enrichment

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses how Vuk Karadžić and Petar II Petrović Njegoš almost simultaneously and also in a similar way succeeded to overcome the insufficiency of Serbian vernacular vocabulary for successful expression in the sphere of abstraction and thoughtfulness. This was evidenced in translation of the Bible, and especially in the efforts of the great poet to express the most delicate lyrical feelings and the deepest philosophical reflections in his works which are among the greatest Serbian literary works. Vuk resolved this issue in a dominant manner and showed in which way Serbian literary language should be developed. A significant number of missing words he took from Church Slavonic (savior, prophetess, to glorify, etc.), and Serbianized those words that were not in accordance with the rules or the formative structure of New Štokavian (money-grubber, superstition, perfection, etc.). Some words were coined within the norms of Serbian language (winegrower, humiliation, steadfast, etc.). The work of the great poet, which greatly contributed to the growing reputation of vernacular as literary language, was overwhelmed with Slavonisms, Slavic words and forms not included in the fund of the original means of expression of Serbian vernacular. Among the eight basic types of Njegoš’s Slavonisms the most important are: Serbian Church Slavonic (place of torture, scene or location, place of judgment, etc.), Russian Church Slavonic (victory, bodily, etc.), Church Slavonic (patriarch, feat, space, etc.) and Russian (delicate, conversely, a subject, etc.). In the works of Njegoš there are many so called Slavonic-Serbianisms, hybrid creations made by combination of the elements of two and (or) three languages (prophecy, seminary, bloodshed, etc.), as well as newly coined words like thunderer, pre-possible, craving for power, and others. Njegoš was also more than successful in adapting loan words from other Slavic language systems (to win, omnipotent, foot or base, the cosmos, etc.). The number of Slavonisms is in full correlation with the themes of Njegoš’s poetic works. They usually cannot be found in decasyllabic works written in the spirit of folk poetry, but they are the most often in The Ray of the Microcosm. Behind the poetic freedom in reaching for means of expression not specific for vernacular often stand the demands of metrics and rhyme. The authority of Vuk and Njegoš and the mission of their work significantly contributed to the inclusion of Slavonisms in Serbian language vocabulary, and thus to the enrichment of the literary-linguistic idiom which was reformed for the needs of Serbian people and their culture in the mid-19th century.

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