Polish Etymology: Past, Present, Future

Abstract

The aim of the article is to describe and analyse the tasks and perspectives within contemporary etymological research in Poland. The article begins with a brief outline of the first Slavic etymological dictionaries. Next, contemporary etymological dictionaries in Poland and the contemporary methodology of etymological research are briefly discussed. Then the author refers to the digital breakthrough in etymological research and describes the present-day model of linguistic education in Poland. A sharp decline in the number of specialists in etymology is argued to be a result of the withdrawal of historical-linguistic and historical-comparative subjects in university curricula and the author suggests various ways of encouraging students to study etymology. The article finishes with a discussion of the challenges facing etymologists, including research into the roots of ancient, dialectal, colloquial, and sociolectal vocabulary, as well as the origins of the vocabulary of endangered languages, followed by suggestions for how these can be overcome in the future.