O potrzebie nowego słownika odapelatywnych nazwisk Polaków – perspektywy badawcze
On the Need for a New Dictionary of Polish Surnames Derived from Common Words – Research Perspectives

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to discuss the issues related to identifying the etymology of Polish surnames derived from appellatives. It also proposes a study containing a more thorough explication of the motivation behind the effects of word-formation that have been used as surnames. It is argued that the use of appropriate methods for analysing personal proper names may significantly contribute to revealing the pragmatic aspects of personal names created in the past. The first part of the text presents the ways of describing the origin of the discussed names in the largest Polish dictionaries of anthroponyms. Its second part is devoted to the presentation of old nicknames (currently functioning as surnames) as messages of everyday communication and elements of the vernacular. This part justifies the idea of compiling a dictionary of Polish surnames based on appellatives which would make use of the tools of ethnolinguistic methodology, especially Ryszard Tokarski’s open definition. The last part of the text presents a proposal for a dictionary entry on the example of surnames derived from the appellative bystry [PL smart].

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