Prodá Chudobu a koupí si Nouzín ‒ lidová etymologie, lidová paměť a Český koutek v Kladsku
Selling Poverty to buy Need ‒ Folk etymology, folk memory and the Czech Corner in Kłodzko Land

Summary/Abstract: Folk etymology refers to the process of making connections between etymologicallyopaque words and words that despite having similar forms or meanings are etymologicallydifferent. It is a manifestation of people’s natural need to attain a clear understandingof the things that surround them, identify relationships between them, andgive them an order. The first part of the study addresses folk etymology vis-à-vis folkmemory. The second part focuses on folk interpretations of toponyms that were usedby the inhabitants of the Czech Corner, a territory located in Kłodzko Land in what isnow Poland. Arguably, the most remarkable example of these is the traditional folkinterpretation of “selling Poverty to buy Need”, meaning that the financial situationof the local people was never very good. The phraseme, which contains the namesof two villages on the Czech border ‒ Chudoba (EN: poverty) and Nouzín (EN: placewhere people are in need), is believed to be based on the common assumption thatthe two place names remind us of the poverty that the region faced. The reality ishowever that etymologically Nouzín has nothing to do with „need“. Additionally,the study deals with folk interpretations of the toponyms Pálenina, Kodrcov, Plhánek,Zámecká hora and Pec.

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