The role of etymology in the reconstruction of the linguistic world view Cover Image

Rola etymologii w rekonstrukcji językowego obrazu świata
The role of etymology in the reconstruction of the linguistic world view

Author(s): Jerzy Bartmiński
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: KSIĘGARNIA AKADEMICKA Sp. z o.o.
Keywords: cognitive ethnolinguistics; etymology; linguistic world view; świat ‘world’; kwiat ‘flower’; gwiazda ‘star’

Summary/Abstract: The author assumes that etymological analyses are “ethnolinguistically relevant” because by reconstructing the motivation of names, etymology allows one to reach the methods of linguistic conceptualization of phenomena and objects. He discusses the words świat ‘world’, kwiat ‘flower’, and gwiazda ‘star’ (endorsing Brückner’s and Sławski’s thesis that they all belong to a single etymological nest), and adduces examples of proverbs, riddles, and folk songs where the semantics of ‘world’, ‘flower’, and ‘star’ are joined, to demonstrate the benefits of directing etymological analyses to historically documented texts. Apart from phonetic arguments, the common element is the connotation of ‘brightness’, i.e. what makes it possible to look and to see.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 16
  • Page Range: 233-245
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Polish