Nazwy roślin jako zwierciadło wiejskiego świata (na materiale gwary kujawskiej)
Plant names as a reflection of the rural world (based on material from Kuyavian dialect)

Author(s): Agnieszka Wierzbicka
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: plant names; dialectical plant names; linguistic picture of the world; Kuyavia
Summary/Abstract: This monograph presents plant names functioning in the Kuyavian dialect. The author made an effort to recreate the nomination process for 108 plant species: wild plants, crops, water plants, trees, shrubs and prostrate shrubs. Utilizing detailed etymological and semantic analyses of names gathered during field research and the recreation of linguistic image of the world, she has unveiled a remarkably rich and colorful world of the Kuyavians. In her research, she has proven that for the Kuyavians, the methods of creating names and their categorization are a reflection of the world of nature that surrounds humans, underscore its renewability and make the world organized, often via use of antinomy (cultivated — uncultivated, useful — useless, harmful — harmless, therapeutic — non-therapeutic, fragrant — stinking, hard — soft, huge — small, magical — ordinary etc.). Phytonyms analyzed in this monograph unveil their meanings, but also emotions and beliefs of the Kuyavian folk to the reader and are a reflection of a peculiar, fixed in tradition, anthropocentric view of the world and often naive etymologies. That kind of vision strongly deviates from the scientific perception of reality and leads researchers into unknown territory, which often eludes clear classification.

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