Rola etymologii w kształtowaniu językowego obrazu świata
The role of etymology in reconstructing the linguistic worldview

Summary/Abstract: The paper draws on abundant exemplifying material and deals with various areas of investigation of the modern etymologist who inquires into the nature of the linguistic worldview. The following conclusions are reached.Etymological research is of diachronic nature. Etymological reconstruction pertains to the earliest possible point in time and the uncovered (or alleged) semantic motivation is usually limited to one feature associated with the object being named. A reconstruction of the linguistic worldview is best carried out on the synchronic plane (through questionnaires, analysis of current texts, as well as by considering the researcher’s knowledge of his or her own language). While reconstructing facts relating to the past, the researcher should have mastered the craft of the etymologist and that of the language historian, which means that the origin and history of a word should be investigated against the context in which the need for its emergence arose.These two distinct, though also related disciplines, should contribute to each other’s findings and thus facilitate an emergence of a new quality in linguistic inquiry.

• Details
• Contents