From the history of Polish erotic words – the names of sexual body parts in the history of the criminal jargon Cover Image

Z historii polskiego słownictwa erotycznego – nazwy intymnych części ciała w dawnym socjolekcie przestępczym
From the history of Polish erotic words – the names of sexual body parts in the history of the criminal jargon

Author(s): Jarosław Pacuła
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie
Keywords: criminal jargon; erotic lexis; etymology; semantics; diachronic linguistics

Summary/Abstract: The author discussed a few sexualisms – names of sexual body parts. He excerpted lexical material from Polish historical studies from the 19th century and the beginning the 20th century. In the article the author presented the provenance of some expressivisms. He analysed less familiar and forgotten names of breast (bust), vulva (vagina) and male member (penis): i.e.: jabłuszka (‘apples’), bufory (‘buffers’), fujara (‘ninny’), flet (‘flute’), węgorz (‘eel’), mona (from Italian), bilkałe (from Yiddish). Mostly studied words is neo-semantism, less often – borrowings. The author put the analyzed words in the context of linguistic and cultural taboos (he mentioned euphemization and vulgarization). The text is inviting to join a discussion; some observations of the author are provoking to debate. The author presented the etymology of this vocabulary, but he also hypothesized the origin of several lexemes.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 15
  • Page Range: 163-178
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish