German Irrwisch ‘1. will-o’-the-wisp; 2. scamp, scallywag, imp’ and Polish urwis ‘scamp, scallywag, imp’.
German Irrwisch ‘1. will-o’-the-wisp; 2. scamp, scallywag, imp’ and Polish urwis ‘scamp, scallywag, imp’.
Author(s): Kamil StachowskiSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: German; Polish; languages in contact; semantics
Summary/Abstract: Even if the derivation of the meaning ‘scamp, scallywag, imp’ < ‘will-o’-the-wisp’ is generally imaginable (albeit not self-evident) it is assumed here that this change is actually based on addition of a foreign meaning to a German one, rather than on semantic evolution.
Journal: Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis
- Issue Year: 2011
- Issue No: 128
- Page Range: 161-162
- Page Count: 2
- Language: English