O ludowej etiologii wrodzonego kalectwa
On the Folk Aetiology of Congenital Invalidity

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the problem of beliefs established in folk culture concerning the causes of inborn disability. On the basis of the analysis of the words "a cripple", "handicapped", “a cliché”, "an invalid" and "a disabled person", the author reconstructs the conceptualization of disability preserved in these linguistic data. Relying on the 19th- and 20th-century ethnographic and folklore materials and records collected in the vicinity of Zawady (Lubelskie Voivodeship, Łęczyński District, Puchaczów Commune), she discusses disability as a result of 1) the fetus’s contact with the sacrum, 2) the disturbance of the paradisaical order by a pregnant woman 3) the taking away of a child's health by another conceived child, and 4) practices performed to the detriment of the unborn child by unfriendly individuals.

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