Individual and Collective Nicknames of the Poles: An Ethnolinguistic Perspective. Review of the book: Ziajka, B. (2014). Językowo-kulturowy obraz świata społeczności wiejskiej utrwalony w przezwiskach i przydomkach (na przykładzie nieoficjalnych antroponimów mieszkańców Zagórza i wsi okolicznych w powiecie chrzanowskim) [The Rural Community’s Cultural and Linguistic Worldview as Reflected in Individual and Family Nicknames (Based on Unofficial Anthroponyms of the Dwellers of Zagórz and Neighboring Villages in Chrzanów County)]. Kraków: Wyd. Libron; Filip Lohner.

Abstract

The reviewed book by Beata Ziajka Językowo-kulturowy obraz świata społeczności wiejskiej utrwalony w przezwiskach i przydomkach is devoted to an ethnolinguistic analysis of individual and family nicknames used in the rural commune of Babice (Chrzanów County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland). The reviewer gives a high appraisal of the dialectal material collected by the author during her fieldwork and presented in form of an onomasiological dictionary of individual and collective nicknames (812 units in total). The motivational analysis of the anthroponymic stems enabled the author to distribute them into five thematic groups, each representing an important aspect of rural life: “Home and Family,” “Extrafamilial communities,” “Labour,” “Social behavior,” and “Appearance”. The characteristics reflected in the anthroponyms provide valuable information about the rural dwellers’ stereotypes as to a person’s social role and functions within their community, which makes the reviewed study a significant contribution to the reconstruction of the Polish peasants’ linguistic worldview in the early 21st century.

Keywords

• Polish language
• dialect
• onomastics
• anthroponymy
• nickname
• onomastic lexicography
• ethnolinguistics