Following in the footsteps of Yakov Malkiel

Text-based etymology, context-situated text

Bibliographic Data

ID21574450
AuthorsPrzemysław Łozowski (0000-0001-6685-9713, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume32
Pages35
Publication date2020-12-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEtnolingwistyka Problemy Języka i Kultury (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0860-8032 • E-ISSN: 2449-8335
PublisherMaria Curie-Sklodowska University (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.17951/et.2020.32.35
OpenAlexW3113247196
LanguageEN
References cited8

A critical appraisal is attempted of the three structurally-designated theses that are typically voiced in relation to what etymology is and what it consists in: (i) etymology is diachronic in scope, (ii) etymology involves the reconstruction of proto-forms and proto-senses, and (iii) etymology is based on the earliest possible attestations. The examination is guided and motivated by Yakov Malkiel's etymological research as well as by selected studies of the Lublin-based cognitive ethnolinguists. It is, then, concluded that etymological investigations are more likely to be productive and successful if (i) the temporal perspective employed is that of panchrony, not of the diachrony-synchrony distinction, (ii) the reconstruction aims at identifying ways of cross-generational conceptualisation (mentalities), rather than original forms, and (iii) the examination includes the whole of the historical spectrum of attestations, not just earliest records. This all leads to a full appreciation of the kind of etymology that feeds on texts, not words or lexemes, and on cognitive and experiential contexts, not on purely linguistic abstractions

Archaeology · Art · Epistemology · Etymology · Linguistics · Literature · Computer Science · History · Language and Culture · Lexicography and Language Studies · linguistics and terminology studies · Philosophy · Artificial Intelligence

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