Вопросы ономастики (Nov 2017)
An All-Slavic Dictionary of Folk Zoonymy. Review of the book: Warchoł, S. (2007–2016). Słownik etymologiczno-motywacyjny słowianskiej zoonimii ludowej [The Etymological and Motivational Dictionary of Slavic Folk Zoonyms] (Vols. 1–5). Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej.
Abstract
The review gives a critical assessment of the content and structure of the five-volume dictionary of Slavic animal names (zoonyms), compiled by Stefan Warchol, a professor at the University of Lublin. The author is given high credits for systematizing the extensive lexical material (over 120,000 items) collected on the indigenous Slavic territories in Poland, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Upper and Lower Lusatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. It is highly appreciated that the research material was recorded directly from informants (1,500 people) and is supplemented by commentary elaborating on each name’s motivation. The dictionary articles are noted for particular thoroughness of the lexicographical description to include information about the original form of the animal’s name, the place where it was registered (the name of the village, region, country), the nomination background and the frequency of use. The breadth of coverage of zoonymic data, which includes the names of 44 species of domestic and domesticated wild animals, is emphasized. The first volume contains the names of buffaloes, bulls, oxen and horses; the second — the names of cows; the third is devoted to cats and dogs names; the fourth collects the names of different kinds of pet animals (hedgehogs, foxes, hares, canaries, parrots, etc.). The dictionary articles of the fifth volume present the names of animals of different species categorized on the common root basis, which allows one to trace the level of its productivity and the breadth of its distribution throughout the Slavic territory. Particular attention in the review is given to the conceptual side of the research which builds on the author’s study of the archaic layer of zoonymic vocabulary and develops into the original hypotheses on Slavic ethnogeny problem and delineating the boundaries of the ancestral home of the Slavs. The peer-reviewed dictionary provides rich and well-systemized information relevant for research in the fields of Slavic zoonyms, onomastics, semasiology, onomasiology, etymology, dialectology, ethnolinguistics, and the cultural history of the Slavic peoples.
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