Diabelski czyli jaki? Kilka słów o motywacji nazw: Uwagi wstępne

DEVILISH MEANING WHAT? A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE MOTIVATION OF NAMES

Phraseological expressions which have the status of common names (nomina appellativa), two-component units, in which one of the parts bears the meaning ‘devil’ or ‘devilish’, denote various elements of the world, which fit into the field of nature and culture. These units have already been discussed in two papers: O „diabelskich” nazwach i nazwaniach and Nazwy z zakresu kultury materialnej motywowane pojęciami z zakresu kultury duchowej. The former is dedicated to particular objects which have ‘devilish’ names. The latter concentrates on the terms from the field of material culture, which are motivated by three notions from the area of spiritual culture: DIABEŁ (‘devil’) ANIOŁ (‘angel’) and BÓG (‘God’). The following paper focuses on semantic motivation of ‘devilish’ names in a possibly most synthetic way – i.e. in order to show naming tendencies (nominal mechanisms), which can be observed in this group of phraseological units. The following items should be listed: 1. the named objects, and most frequently some of its qualities evoke associations with devil, which is visible in the name, 2. the link between the object and devil in beliefs, magic or folk rituals is reflected in the name, 3. categorization, evaluation of the object made by man results in using a ‘devilish’ name. The paper concentrates on the first of those nominal mechanisms, presenting names which picture it. The other two mechanisms will be the subject of a separate work.