Wybrane problemy semantyki historycznej. Definiowanie znaczeń w słowniku dawnej polszczyzny
Selected problems of historical semantics. Defining meanings in the dictionary of old Polish

Author(s): Włodzimierz Gruszczyński, Dorota Adamiec, Magdalena Majdak, Wiesław Morawski
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Lexis, Semantics, Historical Linguistics, Western Slavic Languages
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: historical lexicography; definition; categorisation; semantics
Summary/Abstract: The authors deal with the problem of reconstructing and defining the meanings of old lexical units in historical dictionaries. Those should be treated as bilingual since the language of a past epoch is nowadays extinct and foreign. Defining the meanings of old lexical units, should the lexicographer try to reconstruct the state of science of that time or refer to his present-day language competence? The authors, by means of numerous examples, present detailed problems with reconstruction of meanings, caused by difficulties with categorisation of designations. The conclusion is that definitions should comprise all the features of a designation appearing in historical language material.

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