Ethnolinguistics in etymological research

Abstract

The article is devoted to the relationship between etymology and ethnolinguistics, with particular reference to the usefulness of ethnolinguistic research in the work of etymologists. In the last thirty years numerous Slavists have combined their interest in one of these branches with an application of their research in the other branch. The article focuses on ethnolinguistics as it is represented in Słownik stereotypów i symboli ludowych [Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols], which explores mainly texts of folklore. It presents links binding two directions of research: (1) relations between elements of the world, from the immediate environment to the Cosmos, considered from the point of view of texts of folklore on the one hand and etymology on the other; (2) analyses of synonymous and antonymous conceptual pairs that manifest parallelism both in folklore and etymology; (3) traditional evaluation and the associated linguistic taboo.