Ile {osoby} jest w {uosabiać}? Studium semantyczno-składniowe
How Much {osoba} There Is in {uosabiać}? A semantic and syntactic study

Summary/Abstract: The main aim of this paper is to determine the number of language units behind the verb {uosabiać} ‘roughly: personify, epitomize’ as well as to describe semantic and syntactic features of {distinguished units (ktoś uosabia coś/kogoś2 w czymś2, coś w czymś2 jest uosobione jako ktoś, ktoś uosabia coś, ktoś/coś uosabia coś2)}. The author focuses on the relation among the structural, etymological and real meanings of the verb in Modern Polish. According to the etymological dictionary of Polish by Boryś, {uosabiać} ‘to personify’ originally meant ‘uczynić osobą’, therefore it was derived from the word {osoba} ‘person’, most likely in its nineteenth-century meaning ‘human.’ However, the analysis shows that {uosabiać} may refer to non-human beings or objects as well. It also leads to the conclusion that {uosabiać} shows more semantic similarity to the Old Polish {osoba} ‘postać, kształt’ (‘form’).

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