Ile ojca, ile matki jest w polskiej ojczyźnie?

Abstract

HOW MUCH OF A FATHER, HOW MUCH OF A MOTHER IS THERE IN THE POLISH OJCZYZNA [FATHERLAND]? ONCE AGAIN ABOUT THE ROLE OF ETYMOLOGICAL DATA IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LINGUISTIC WORLDVIEW The author assumes that (1) etymological data are ethnolinguistically relevant, (2) the task of etymological research is to detect the original meaning of a word (to find the original semantic motivation) and to reach a world that disappeared, but, at the same time, remained a part of the present, (3) the focus of the research should shift from formal interests to broadly understood semantics (reconstruction of the conceptualization processes that accompany the nominations and of the linguistic image of the words hiding behind words). Based on this, the author undertakes the analysis of the names for the fatherland in the Polish language. To do this, she compares the Polish lexis and its onomasiological basis with the corresponding vocabulary of other Slavic languages. According to the author, studying the semantics of a whole group of words allows us to discover the basic cognitive situation, i.e. the generalized experience of a specific linguistic and cultural community. Using dictionary data and studies of the concept of the “fatherland” in Slavic languages, the author analyses the names related to the Polish concept of OJCZYZNA: lexical and semantic nests such as “ojczyzna i patria” [homeland and patria], “macierz [“motherland”], “państwo” [“state”] and “kraj” [country], and she extracts the underlying cultural “codes”: (1) kin and family, (2) home, (3) power and dominion, and (4) land. The author also shows the coherence of these codes and the image of the fatherland that emerges from them.