Jak się ma jasiek do Jaśka, a zośka do Zośki?
How do Polish jasiek: Jasiek and zośka : Zośka compare?

Summary/Abstract: Two Polish substantives, viz. jasiek ‘1. small pillow or cushion; 2. biol. a sort of white bean’ and zośka ‘a sort of footbag (a street game [circle kick] played with a shuttlecock or a bag)’ are mostly, if ever, explained as eponyms coming from diminutive forms of personal names: Jasiek (masc.) ‘Johnny’ and Zośka (femin.) ‘Sophie’. However, no semantic explanation for this usage has ever been suggested. In this article, jasiek ‘small pillow…’ is interpreted as a morphologically adapted Turkic word, whereas jasiek ‘bean’ results from the semantic evolution of jasiek ‘pillow’. The word zośka ‘footbag; circle kick’ is also an adapted loan word, but one of ultimately Mongolic origin and transferred into Polish via Russian dialects.

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