A collection of coarse words in manuscript form by Djordje Natosevic (1821-1887) as a source for the scientific study of derogatory terms in the Serbian language

Abstract

In this paper we present a description and analysis of the collection of derogatory terms in manuscript form by Djordje Natosevic (1821-1887). Dj. Natosevic amassed his collection of names from various sources in the mid-19th century. In the early 20th century, the manuscript was joined with the archive of the lexical materials for the Dictionary of the Serbo-Croat Literary and Vernacular Language of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, which remained so to this day. This collection of 2,584 lexical items represents the most extensive and structurally diverse collection of derogatory terms for people in the Serbian language of the 19th and 20th centuries alike. With this in view, in the first part of the paper we define four main categories of derogatory terms in the Natosevic?s collection: 1) common nouns, 2) descriptive adjectives, 3) multiword expressions and 4) semasiologically motivated anthroponyms. We then proceed to describe these categories according to their structural type, semantic domain and the way in which they realize a derogatory meaning. Based on these insights, in the second part of the paper we conduct an empirically-based research into the relationship between word-formation and semantic elements of ?coarse words? in Natosevic?s collection, as well as that which concerns suffixal synonymy and suffixal competition in certain categories of derogatory terms. In conclusion, we state that Natosevic?s collection represents a significant source for the study of the Serbian (colloquial) language in the 19th century, and stands as a testimony to the continuity of the development of the system of pejoratives in the contemporary Serbian language. Based on this conclusion, we then present the needs and possibilities of turning A Collection of Coarse Words by Djordje Natosevic into a dictionary and electronic database of pejoratives in the Serbian language.