From the history of Polish lexical items KABAŁA ‘cabala, fortune-telling’, STAWIAĆ KABAŁĘ ‘to tell fortune’, and others Cover Image

Z historii polskich jednostek leksykalnych: kabała, stawiać kabałę i podobne
From the history of Polish lexical items KABAŁA ‘cabala, fortune-telling’, STAWIAĆ KABAŁĘ ‘to tell fortune’, and others

Author(s): Zuzanna Krótki
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej
Keywords: evolution of meaning; semantic shift; history of Polish; phraseology; kabała ‘cabala’

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the semantic changes of the Polish lexical item kabała ‘cabala’ and related units: kabalistyka ‘cabalism’, kabalista ‘cabalist, fortune-teller’, wpaść w kabałę ‘get oneself into a bad fix’, stawiać kabałę ‘to tell future’. With time, these items lost their links with their primary meanings and changed the semantic domain of application from religious (or even mystical) to colloquial. The study shows in what way these semantic shifts originated and were effected. The analysis has revealed not only the paths of semantic development of these word-forms, but also show the changes in the linguistic awareness (worldview) of the speakers of Polish.

  • Issue Year: 28/2016
  • Issue No: 28
  • Page Range: 245-255
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: Polish
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