PRIEŠAS „LIETUVIŲ KALBOS ŽODYNE“
THE ENEMY IN THE DICTIONARY OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE

Summary/Abstract: The goal of this study is to dissect, using illustrative sentences, the fragment of the concept of ENEMY (Lith. PRIEŠAS) recorded in the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language (LKŽe). The article has the following objectives: (1) discussing the definitions of enemy in the modern Lithuanian thesauri, (2) identifying and discussing potential enemies, their attributes, actions recorded in the illustrative sentences of the LKŽe. The study employed these methods: semantic analysis, interpretation, and description. Thesauri (the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language (LKŽe), the Dictionary of the Modern Lithuanian Language (DŽ7i), and the Dictionary of the Standard Lithuanian Language (BŽ)) define enemy as an unfriendly, ill-meaning person (e.g., ‘They became enemies after the dispute’ (Lith. Po ginčo jie pasidarė priešai, LKŽe)); an enemy is someone with opposing beliefs (e.g., ‘enemy of the people’ (Lith. Liaudies priešas, LKŽe), ‘ideological enemy’ (Lith. Idėjinis priešas, BŽ)); an enemy is the opposing country and army at war (e.g., ‘repel [overcome] the enemy’ (Lith. Priešą atmušti [nugalėti], BŽ)); an enemy is someone who dislikes something, considers it harmful (e.g., ‘enemy of smoking’ (Lith. Rūkymo priešas, LKŽe)); an enemy is something that causes damage or harm as well (e.g., ‘cold is the garden’s enemy No 1 (Lith. Šaltis – svarbiausias sodų priešas, LKŽe)). Analysis of nearly 450 illustrative sentences from the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language with the lexeme enemy(Lith. priešas) has pieced together the fragment of the concept of ENEMY as described below. First and foremost, enemy in the LKŽe is defined as an unfriendly, assailing army of another (often unidentified in the illustrative sentences of the LKŽe) country; its actions with regard to the country that is being (or has been) assaulted are stereotypical: first it prepares for combat, then organises and launches an attack, which culminates in defeat, death, or victory (the occupation of the land orcountry). Sometimes the illustrative sentences of the LKŽe accentuate that the enemy is brave, persistent, its forces are larger, weapons better. The actions of the country defending itself against the enemy in war are also rather predictable and stereotypical: preparation for combat, the launching of an attack, which culminates in victory, death, or surrender. On rare occasions, the illustrative sentences of the LKŽe refer to Lithuania (or Lithuanians) as a country defending itself against an enemy. The illustrative sentences presented in the LKŽe contain very few mentions of the specific enemy of Lithuania (or Lithuanians) as well. In the illustrative sentences of the LKŽe, enemy can also be an unfriendly person or animal (e.g., another human being or nation), that what causes damage or harm to a human being (e.g. time, distance, arrogance) or an abstract phenomenon, a specific object (e.g., superficiality is an enemy of science; cold is an enemy of the garden). Enemy can also be a person or persons of opposing beliefs (e.g., an enemy of the people; an enemy of the church). Furthermore, enemy is he who condemns something, considers it harmful or evil (e.g., he is an enemy of gambling for money; an enemy of smoking). The illustrative sentences of the LKŽe carry a clear-cut opposition between enemy and friend; their relationship can change in an instant (depending on internal and external factors), and so can the approach to friendship. It is evident that the illustrative sentences recorded in the LKŽe do not mention the specific enemy (especially when it comes to the army of another country). This can be the product of the LKŽe’s (self-)censorship, political correctness that prevents any clear definition of the enemy; plus, the word enemy carries a strong semantic and emotional charge, potentially causing any open reference to a specific enemy to be avoided – after all, talking about an enemy that is undefined yet ‘known’ to everyone is a safer thing to do. Of course, one should keep it in mind that the illustrative sentences of the LKŽe are void of any context: omitted from the specific illustrative sentence present in the LKŽe, the enemy could have been clearly mentioned in the source (or the story of a live person) as such. Any stronger validation of the above musings would require an analysis of a larger quantity of sources, such as the data of the Corpus of the Modern Lithuanian Language, questionnaire findings, and so on.

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