Die geistige Verwandtschaft der ostmitteleuropäischen Sprachen
The spiritual relationship of East Central European languages

Summary/Abstract: The author claims that the common cultural grounds between languages may be demonstrated by words and phrases which were created analogically, based on a similar linguistic image of the world. This image can be reconstructed in the most reliable way on the basis of the origin of these words, so etymology plays a decisive role in research. It is fruitful to study the linguistic representation of certain objects, actions, notions or characteristic features in several languages of a larger area simultaneously since the results of this ‘comparative etymology’ may put some light on the roots of these common cultural grounds. Loanwords and calques, filling in a certain gap in the borrowing language, can also contribute to the transfer of the linguistic image of the world from the donor language, which makes the adaptation of these phrases in the recipient language easier.

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