CO MA WSPÓLNEGO HARPAGAN Z HARPAGONEM?
What Does harpagan Have in Common with Harpagon?

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the word harpagan, which has recently been introduced into standard Polish. Harpagan, whose existence has been registered in few lexicographic works, is defi ned as ‛a man of violent, impulsive nature and rough behavior’. Apparently, in colloquial speech, the word acquires other meanings, e.g. ‛a man who is effi cient at work, hard working (sometimes working to much)’, ‛a stubborn man’, ‛a wicked man’.The article includes an analysis of how the word functions in colloquial speech and in dialects. There is also an attempt to reveal the origin of the word, as well as factors which have made it so common in colloquial speech.

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