The polish and russian family of words coming from proto-slavic *rǫka. Selected issues

Sonia Behrendt

Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu

Abstract

A purpose of this article is to compare Polish and Russian word families formed from the Proto-Slavic lexeme *rǫka. 90 derivatives whose word-formation basis is the lexeme hand have been excerpted from Dictionary of Polish Language edited by M. Szymczak whereas 143 words deriving from the Russian word рука have been found in Словаре русского языка edited by A. P. Jewgieniewa. Despite quantitative differences, a number of common lexis in the Polish language group amounts to 48% whereas in the Russian group to 55%. Apart from the statistics, the article focuses on two detailed issues in the scope of differences in shaping lexical resources of word families coming from Proto-Slavic *rǫka in the Polish and Russian languages. The first difference involves morphological distinctions resulting from inherent tendencies of the Russian language to create acronyms such as технорук, военрук that do not exist in the Polish language. The second difference discussed here are cultural conditionings which influenced the creation of lexical distinctions in both languages certified in such word pairs as: podręcznik [handbook] – учебник, ręcznik [towel] – полотенце, rękawicznik [glove maker] – перчаточник, krótkowzroczność [shortsightedness] – близорукость, oklaski [clapping] – рукоплескания, umywalka [sink] – рукомойник, dwulicowiec [two-faced] – двурушник.

Keywords:

Russian language, Polish language, derivatives from Proto-Slavic *rǫka, acronyms, cultural conditionings