Loanwords from the Ruthenian language in Old Polish religious terminology (on the example of Słownik staropolskiej terminologii chrześcijańskiej by Maria Karpluk)

Anna Rygorowicz-Kuźma

Uniwersytet w Białymstoku, Wydział Filologiczny, Instytut Filologii Wschodniosłowiańskiej
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5100-6045

Abstract

Religious terminology in the Polish language is an interesting topic and constantly requires academic research. Linguists have reached a certain consensus that the oldest Polish Christian lexicon to a large extent was borrowed from the Czech language along with the spread of Christianity from that area. This article addresses the issue of Polish religious terminology that could have Eastern Slavic origins. They were taken from Maria Karpluk’s graphic lexicon entitled A Dictionary of Old Polish Christian Terminology (Słownik staropolskiej terminologii chrześcijańskiej) and were analyzed in terms of semantics and etymology. The analysed lexicon particularly relates to the spirituality of the Orthodox Church that originates from areas where Orthodoxy was the dominant religion. Some of the words, e.g. przeczysta (compare Przeczysta Panna), kum, zapusty have survived and are present in contemporary Polish, while others such as porąganie, pomiłować, soroczyny, pokaźń gradually disappeared. Some Old Polish religious terms of Eastern Slavic origin such as Bogorodzica, kryłos, monaster, Spas, władyka, wwiedienie are used today in both in oral and written forms in the Orthodox community in Poland.

Keywords:

loan words from the Ruthenian language, religious terminology, Old Polish language, Orthodoxy