Dedykacja i jej językowe ekwiwalenty w drukach polskich XVI i XVII wieku
Dedykacja (Dedication) and its linguistic equivalents in 16thand 17th-century Polish prints

Summary/Abstract: The object of this paper is genre names functioning in 16th- and 17th-century Polish prints attributed to dedications. My discussions are double-track. One track is determined by observations related to places that are particularly privileged in the space of the old book: the heading and the running head. This is where authors usually placed two (genre) names: list dedykacyjny (dedicatory letter) and prze(d)mowa (foreword). This is because the dedicatory work followed the convention that had its root in the epistolographic and oratorical theory and practice. The other track of the discussions is connected with a dictionary research. I looked for equivalents of dedykacja (dedication) in 16th- and 17th-century lexicons. I distinguished four gerunds: poświącanie/ /poświęcenie (devoting), ofiarowanie (sacrificing), przywłaszczenie (approprating) and przypisanie (attributing), and then I investigated the manner in which they were used in texts. I also allowed for the underlying verbs. I supported my own examples with documentation derived from Słownik polszczyzny XVI wieku (Dictionary of the 16th-century Polish). The mentioned linguistic units can be divided into two groups. I classified the verbs poświącać, poświęcić (to devote), ofiarować (to sacrifice) and the corresponding gerunds to one group. They set the sender’s decisions related to handing over a work to someone in the space of sacrum. The other group, in turn, is represented by the verbs przywłaszczyć (to appropriate) and przypisać (to attribute) and the derived gerunds. Although they were a part of the secular code, they were “ennobled” through amplification.

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