SEPTEM VERBA A CHRISTO W STAROPOLSKICH APOKRYFACH NOWOTESTAMENTALNYCH W PERSPEKTYWIE ŹRÓDŁOZNAWCZEJ I LINGWISTYCZNEJ. CZĘŚĆ DRUGA: JĘZYKOWE UKSZTAŁTOWANIE

This article is the second and the last part of a series dedicated to the characteristics of a description of Christ’s seven words uttered on the cross as accounted in Old Polish biblical and apocryphal narrations. In part one, I focus on the origin of the words, the characteristics of Old Polish texts containing them. I highlight the most important differences in the narration of the specific fragments of Old Polish Passions of Jesus. Part two is entirely dedicated to the language of the fragments of Old Polish texts on Christ’s seven words uttered on the cross (ŻPJK, SCh and RD). First, I present the enumeration schemes in each apocrypha. They are strictly related to the tradition of religious instruction and teaching and are an attempt at sorting out the material. The article presents also the various ways in which Christ’s specific words are called. The regular word-forming structure of the modifiers affects the rhythmic form of the specific fragments of texts. Finally, I show how quotations from Christ were introduced into each apocrypha: how the utterances’ modal frame was shaped and what verbs of speech were used. It turns out that in each historic text, Christ’s words were treated differently: in the SCh, they were described most extensively and in the RD – least extensively but it is the RD where the enumerations are most precise with respect to the syntax, perhaps because the specific parts are at the smallest distance from each other. Christ’s seven words on the cross are least structured in the ŻPJK.

BABA, ŻABA I KROWA, CZYLI ROZWAŻANIA O TYM, JAK DAWNE SĄ LUDOWE WIERZENIA O ŻABIE WYSYSAJĄCEJ MLEKO KROWIE

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the archaic status of the Polish folk beliefs about certain amphibians (frogs, toads) and reptiles (snakes, lizards, salamanders) believed to have sucked milk from cows. Some Polish peasants were even convinced that milk cows loved suckers (esp. snakes, frogs) more than their calves. There are many folk tales where a witch or a mythical creature assumes the form of a armful animal to suck cow’s milk. The author demonstrates that the oldest part of these beliefs can be traced to the Proto-Indo-European cultural heritage. In fact, some Indo-European languages have preserved a clear indication of animal cow-suckers in their vocabulary, e.g. Ukr. молокосúс m. ‘lizard, salamander’ (literally ‘milk-sucker’); Lith. žaltỹs, žalktỹs m. ‘a not-venomous snake, esp. the grass snake, the slow worm’, Latv. zalktis, zaltis m. ‘snake’, Latg. zalkts m. ‘the grass snake’ (< PIE. *ĝolh2ktii̯os adj. ‘delighting in milk’ < PIE. *ĝl̥h2kt- n. ‘milk’); OInd. gōdhā́- f. ‘a big lizard’ (< PIE. *gu̯h3eu̯-dheh1- f. ‘a cow-sucker’, cf. PIE. *gu̯h3eu̯s f. ‘cow’ and *dheh1- ‘to suck’); Lat. būfō m. ‘a toad’ (< PIE. *gu̯h3eu̯-dhh1-ōn- m. ‘a cowsucker’); Alb. thithëlopë, also blloçkëlopë f. ‘common toad’ (literally ‘sucking/ chewing cows’); Hitt. akuu̯akuu̯aš c. ‘a toad’ (literally ‘sucking cows’, cf. Hitt. aku- ‘to drink’). It is assumed that the Indo-European beliefs were associated with breeding of cattle and were an attempt at a rational (or not) explanation of the alleged cause of poor lactation or cows’ milk loss. It is likely that the ailing animal was perceived as possessed by a demonic character, although the association of an animal with a witch or a devil was made relatively late and probably under the influence of beliefs from Western Europe.

ZAINTERESOWANIA JĘZYKOZNAWCZE ZYGMUNTA KRASIŃSKIEGO

Zygmunt Krasiński devoted much if his attention to the “philosophical” essence of the language and the origins of various tongues. His conjectures, based on speculative and mystic philosophy, are of no scientific importance; rather, they reflect the author’s strong attachment to religion. While not original, his views on the role of a mother tongue in preserving national identity are correct. The writer was interested in spelling and correct grammatical usage of the Polish language. He also focused on assessing the style of texts written in Polish and French. His views were hardly innovative, offering some value in comparison with the 19th century theory of style. Other language-related mentions: the sophistication of Juliusz Słowacki’s language and proposals of baby names based on “inspired” etymological ideas, are inconsequential.

(DIS)KONTINUITA ČEŠTINY 16.-18. STOLETÍ NA PŘÍKLADU HLÁSKOSLOVÍ

A majority of the earlier scholarly publications (literary and linguistic) contain negative assessments of the Czech language from the 17th and 18th centuries. This valuation is in accordance with the political, social, religious and cultural developments in Bohemia after the battle of White Mountain (Bílá hora) on 8 November 1620. Following the battle, the Habsburg Monarchy was established and Bohemia was yet again subjected to the Catholic Church. The function of the Czech language was limited with German becoming the main language spoken by the Bohemian aristocracy and city dwellers. German was the official language and, along with Latin, the language of science. As a result of the functional restrictions, Czech books were printed in limited literary fields, especially religious, historical and practically-oriented texts. The language in which they were written was described as degraded, unstable and incorrect. It was connected with the decline of the standard language, deformed by dialectisms, neologisms and an enormous number of loan words from German. However, is this interpretation of the Czech language from the 17th and 18th centuries correct? I have analysed over 100 prints from the 16th to the 18th centuries, focusing on four phonological phenomena: prothetic v-, dipthongisation ú- > ou- and ý (í) > ej and the change é > í. These changes occurred in texts from the 16th century (or even earlier), then some of them were repressed (ej, í in word ending, prothetic v-) or fixed as a part of Czech print (initial ou-, v- by words stabilized with this nonetymological consonant). It is evident that 1) there was continuous development instead of discontinuity, 2) the earlier negative estimation of the Czech language after 1620 was inaccurate. It is imperative to investigate the Czech language from a historical perspective in detail, without prejudice or ideology.

FRAGMENT KALENDARZA W JĘZYKU POLSKIM Z XIV/XV WIEKU ZE ZBIORÓW BIBLIOTEKI JAGIELLOŃSKIEJ W KRAKOWIE

A manuscript stored in the Jagiellonian Library (no. 1564 from 1404) holds a fragment of a Polish calendar, previously unpublished, from the late 14th century or the early 15th century. Written on the last, extra parchment page, it is a fragment of a much larger manuscript. The first 13 days of January have survived (1 to 13 January) and 13 days of February (4 to 19 February). The fragment contains 17 names, five of which are not included in the Słownik staropolskich nazw osobowych (Dictionary of Old Polish Proper Nouns, W. Taszycki, ed., vol. 1-7, Wrocław 1965-1987), namely Arkadyj, Emilijan, Iginij, Sotera, Wedast. The word january (January, in Polish styczeń) has not been recognised by dictionaries, either. There is no equivalent of the calendar in question in Poland or other European countries. It is impossible to indicate the diocese or a milieu where it could have been used. The document includes a few names of saints properly attributed to the days of their cult and names attributed to days not used in other known calendars. This leads to a conclusion that the calendar was either used in an unknown milieu or we are dealing with a simple error of the copyist. The latter theory best explains the peculiarity of this fragment of the calendar. This is confirmed by marking 4 nd 5 February as Ide rather than Nones, and 12 and 13 February as calends rather than Ides. The calendar was probably erroneously planned by the copyist who confused the days and affiliation of saints. Perhaps these errors were spotted early, the copying process was never completed and the parchment was recycled. Most probably, the intention behind the calendar (1564) was a large parchment “poster”, reminiscent of a scroll, used to inform the congregation about the holidays in the year. The calendar is unique because of the names of saints included in it and the fact that it is written in Polish.

GAROWAĆ – O PEWNYM MAŁO ZNANYM, A WIELOZNACZNYM CZASOWNIKU

Garować is a word which at present belongs primarily to the colloquial variety of the Polish language. Wielki słownik języka polskiego [The Great Dictionary of the Polish Language] mentions 6 meanings of the verb. However, this number does not exhaust the range. The goal of the article is to present the scope of the contemporary meanings of the word. To this end, an online questionnaire was distributed which produced 1,302 replies related to the subject of my interest. The article presents excerpted meanings arranged by prevalence (taking into consideration, if relevant, data of geographic and sociological nature). Next, a scheme of the meanings’ affiliation was suggested. Therefore, this text connects with the works using both the achievements of lexicography as well as empirical research into semantics, based on the ndata from the questionnaires.