Zagadka bratka. Nazwa jako narzędzie językowego porządkowania świata
The Pansy Puzzle. Name as a Tool of Linguistic Ordering of the World

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyses Polish names for ‘wild pansy’. Two fitonymic models have been reconstructed: a botanical, and a cultural one. The former is represented by the Linnean name Viola tricolor; the latter also refers to the botanical characteristics of the plant, but can be reinterpreted in accordance with the knowledge of the world which is fixed, and conventionalized, in the given community. This is an internally diversified model, dynamic, open to the influence of other cultures, and determined by the context. Among others, it is realized by names connected to family relationships, such as macoszki ‘stepmothers’ which refers to Germanic beliefs, or brat ‘brother’ and siostra ‘sister’ related to Eastern and Western Slavic culture.

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