Niemieckie ślady w reportażach Melchiora Wańkowicza z tomu „Anoda i katoda”. Reportaże z części „Kraj lat dziecinnych” w perspektywie leksykalnej

Abstract

The subject of the study is German traces in Melchior Wańkowicz’s reportages published in the “Anoda i katoda” [“The Anode and Cathode”] series, in the part titled “Kraj lat dziecinnych” [The Land of Childhood]. This paper presents the vocabulary of German origin and Polish vocabulary referring to Germany and discusses common words and proper names, mostly of German origin, including quotations and lexis more or less assimilated in the Polish language. Appellatives are classified into parts of speech. The prevailing group of proper names comprises surnames, divided into two groups: German surnames and Polonised surnames. Another issue discussed in this article refers to the ways in which the presented vocabulary underwent Polonisation. Additionally, an interesting question is why the author, born in the Russian partition territory, uses so many words related to Germany. Wańkowicz refers to history, which justifies lexical items of German provenance, e.g. Ober-Ost. The presence of numerous surnames of German origin may result from Wańkowicz’s memories, e.g. Gebethner and Wolff are publishers of his story for children, and the surname Einstein is referred to in relation to Warsaw. As for the presence of appellatives, they were probably well-assimilated and frequently used, since most of them are not distinguished in any way in the text by the author. Some of the above-quoted Germanisms (appellatives and proper names) were Polonised in terms of vowels and consonants and through the application of Polish word-forming suffixes.