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The subject of this work is word-formation elements which are essentially prefixes, but which are... more The subject of this work is word-formation elements which are essentially prefixes, but which are not recognized as such in the structure of the word. They can be isolated only by word-formation-etymological analysis. The literature contains various terms for these elements: ‘expressive prefixes’, ‘archaic prefixes’, ‘preformatives’, ‘word-formation elements’, ‘word-formation components’, ‘unifixes’. The subtitle of this work uses the neutral term FORMATIVES, because the term ‘prefix’ is associated with a well-known, recognized word-formation category which can be easily seen in the structure of the word, unlike the elements we are studying here. The attributive PREVERBAL both defines (and limits) the subject of this study. Although in other Slavic languages formatives of this type are characteristic also for nouns, expressive prefixation in the Serbo-Croatian language is especially common for verbs; nouns are far less subject to this word-formation process. The attributive EXPRESSIVE is used here in the following sense: analyzed formatives possess this type of word-formation meaning, such that words derived by them become marked (most commonly with a negative modification to the basic meaning) and enter the sphere of the expressive lexicon. The subtitle of this work refers to the SERBIAN and CROATIAN language, while the rest of the text uses the term Serbo-Croatian. Both designations (Serbian and Croatian / Serbo-Croatian) accord with the material presented and analyzed, as the corpus for this work has been assembled from sources in the following dialects: Štokavian, Kajkavian and Čakavian. The phenomenon at hand is studied, therefore, by using material from a (historically speaking) single Slavic language.
Research has so far established the existence of the following archaic, expressive, rare nominal and verbal prefixes: *a-, *ja-, *pa-, *pra-, *sǫ-, *ǫ-, *la-, *kV-, *čV-, *šV-, *xV-, *gV-, *tV-, *bV-, *mV- (where V = vowel). Each of these prefixes has been shown to occur (to a greater or lesser degree) in the Serbo-Croatian language. Although we are dealing with genetically different elements, expressive prefixes still form a fairly uniform system which can be regarded as a whole. Differing opinions on the antiquity of this system can be found in the research. Some authors consider expressive prefixes to be highly archaic, a phenomenon of Indo-European, whose antiquity is attested by the prefix ku- (which also carries a negative expressive meaning) in Indo-Iranian. A more measured view is held by the majority of authors, who date expressive prefixes back to Proto-Slavic. This relates primarily to forms with equivalents in other Slavic languages. At the same time, the existence of Slavic equivalents may be the result of parallel functions of a given word-formation model within individual languages. Lastly, another view holds that expressive prefixes are not especially old. Our research has shown that a distinction must be drawn between the age of a given model and the age of its individual manifestations. The word-formation model of ‘expressive prefix + stem’ is undoubtedly archaic. Furthermore, many lexemes formed along this model during the Proto-Slavic period are also archaic. At the same time, many newer forms exist which arose during the independent development of the Serbo-Croatian (and other Slavic) languages. Such forms are patterned after the same archaic word-formation model. The material analyzed shows that in dialects of Serbo-Croatian there has even been a certain reactivation of this archaic word-formation model.
One of the basic aims of this work was to establish and examine the system within which expressive prefixes exist and function. To analyze any system, we must specify: a) the elements of that system; b) the properties of given elements; c) the interaction of those elements. By the elements of the system we mean specific individual expressive prefixes. In the corpus under study, the following TYPES of expressive prefixes have been observed, with their specific realization: kV- (ko-, ka-, ku-), skV- (sko-, ško-); čV- (če-, čo-, ča-); šV- (še-, šo-, ša-, šu-); tV- (to-, ta-, tu-), stV- (sto-, što-); bV- (ba-, bo-); pV- (pa-); lV- (la-, lo-), etc. These prefixes undergo COMPLEXIFICATION, that is, expansion by a syllable containing a liquid (še-vrdati > še-le-vrdati, ko-bečiti se > ko-ro-bečiti se), which serves to increase the expressive quality of a given form. The interaction of expressive prefixes within the system is based on alternation and agglutination. These phenomena are the result of language’s tendency to demonstrate affect, reflected in the never-ending search for new expressors. ALTERNATION is therefore the variation of different expressive prefixes before the same stem. As all expressive prefixes modify the semantics of derived words at the expressive level only, they are nearly synonymous and mutually interchangeable, without consequence for word semantics. This results in a free choice of prefixes; and for this reason we find series of expressive prefixes alternating before the same stem: bavrljati = tavrljati = čavrljati = ševrljati; nakomrditi se = natomrditi se = načomrditi se. AGGLUTINATION is the building-up of different prefixes before the same stem. As a result of the complete fusion of the expressive prefix with the stem, a new expressive stem is created, allowing for secondary prefixation by means of expressive prefixes. The following cases are singled out in our work: če-periti se = ko-čo-periti se = ko-sto-periti se; na-ku-mračiti se = na-ko-tu-mračiti se.
One of the aims of this work was to focus on LEXICAL-SEMANTIC GROUPS in which expressive prefixes most frequently occur. Based on semantic analysis, it was concluded that the material under investigation mainly belongs to semantic spheres which are common for the expressive lexicon (such as kriviti ‘bend’, udarati ‘hit’, vrteti ‘spin’, bacati ‘toss’ with all of their secondary meanings). In actuality, this means that the range of confirmed (and expected) meanings is relatively restricted. One of the reasons for this restriction is that the addition of different expressive prefixes to the same stem does not affect meaning. If we move from the global view – that is, from the overall semantic potential of the corpus under examination – to the micro-level, or semantics of concrete forms, a fundamental question arises regarding the semantics of the combination ‘PREFIX + STEM’. Two possibilities exist: a) the prefix changes the meaning of the stem: vrčiti ‘hit’ > izbavrčiti ‘to go bug-eyed’; periti se ‘to set yourself up in a prominent place’ > čeperiti se ‘to throw your weight around, be a big-shot’; b) the prefix does not change the meaning of the stem: bazati = šalabazati ‘ramble’; bečiti se = kobečiti se ‘stare till your eyes pop out’. When the prefix changes the meaning of the stem, it is usually a matter of normal, regular semantic shift. In effect, this means the prefix allows one of the stem’s potential meanings to be realized, or develops a new, usually metaphorical meaning, by means of analogy. Strictly speaking, the prefix does not add new meaning in such cases. We then come to the question of the SEMANTIC CONTENT OF EXPRESSIVE PREFIXES. Authors who assign an Indo-European origin to such prefixes believe that they convey two basic types of lexical meaning, both overall and expressive: negation and affirmation. Synchronically, the word-formation meanings of these prefixes can be seen only in their expressive aspect. The majority of expressive prefixes modify the semantics of the word negatively, which means that the bulk of expressively prefixed forms have a negative or, at most, neutral meaning.
Expressive preverbal formatives are an organic part – that is, real units – of a language’s word-formation system, although they are located on the periphery and can only be established by word-formation-etymological analysis. The criteria valid for so-called ‘normal’ prefixes – productivity, regularity, motivation – cannot be applied to them in the usual sense. The word-formation characteristic of expressive prefixes which might be analogous to productivity for normal prefixes could be called ‘occasionality’. This means that the need (or requirement) to realize expressive prefixes arises by coincidence in a certain context, and that we can only speak of the greater or lesser regularity of such ‘occasionality’. Judging by the number of lexemes analyzed in this work, expressive prefixes are indeed a ‘productive’ category in Serbo-Croatian. One phenomenon that demonstrates and proves the place of expressive prefixes within the prefixation system is the alternation of expressive (non-productive) and ‘normal’ (productive) prefixes: is-ko-vrljiti, iš-če-vrljiti : is-po-vrljiti ‘open your eyes wide’; na-to-vrsti se : na-do-vrsti se, na-po-vrsti se ‘push in on someone’. This phenomenon attests that linguistic consciousness continues to perceive expressive prefixes as prefixes.
Still, a great difference exists between normal and expressive prefixes. Expressive prefixes are located at the periphery of the language system, as can be seen by the following:

Expressive prefixes are ‘anomalous’ in relation to normal prefixes, given that their characteristics are opposite to the traits of normal prefixes: a) they are not readily apparent within the structure of the word; b) they are not productive; c) they are not regular; d) they do not have definite semantics.
Expressive prefixes reflect an independent system which functions according to its own rules.
As a word-formation category, expressive prefixes are found at other ‘peripheries’, such as in folklore, slang and in-group languages, meaning they are characteristic for several marginal classes at the same time.
Rather than tending toward economy of expression, these prefixes tend toward expressiveness, leading inevitably to greater complexity.

From September 5th to 7th, 2006 the international scholarly symposium “Slavic Etymology today” to... more From September 5th to 7th, 2006 the international scholarly symposium “Slavic Etymology today” took place in Belgrade, Serbia. Organized by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Serbian Language Institute of SASA, it was held under the auspices of the Etymological Commission of the International Slavistic Committee. More than a year later the proceedings of this symposium are now being published, under the same title — a rather prosaic one, which is not due to the lack of imagination on the side of the conference organizers, but rather to their intention to clearly express their initial purpose to gather — by personal invitation
— a representative number of the most prominent specialists in the field of Slavic etymology, coming from all
leading centers of this kind of research, as well as some selected scholars from adjacent disciplines, in order to provide not only the maximum insight into present-
day approaches to etymological studies, but also to present various possibilities of their interdisciplinary connections.
We hope that the readers of this book will be able to share the unanimous impression of the organizers, participants
and guests of the Belgrade symposium that this gathering was successful in fulfilling this task.
This monograph contains the final versions all the articles accepted for the symposium, presented at it and timely submitted to the editorial board —a total of thirty six papers, here arranged in an alphabetical order. Countrywise,
the most numerous individual contribution, with nine articles, comes from Serbia proper, but prevailing are
those from other Slavic and European countries: seven from Russia, four from Bulgaria, three each from Poland and the Czech Republic, two each from Slovenia and Cyprus, and one each from Slovakia, Macedonia, Ukraine, France, Italy and Romania. It is noteworthy that through their collaborators
almost all ongoing projects for etymological thesaurus-type dictionaries are represented: both Proto-Slavic dictionaries,
the Mocow and the Cracow one, as well as the voluminous etymological dictionaries of the Old Church Slavonic,
Bulgarian, Slovenian, Ukrainian and Serbian languages. The methodological scope of these contributions varies in a wide range from the traditional philological approach which employs a contextual analysis of attestations for establishing the original meaning of a word as a basis for its etymology, to
the attempts at amending and supplementing the established phonetic laws, which opens new prospects for reconsidering some old etymologies and proposing new ones. While those works combine etymological quests with historical phonology and accentology, the others focus on some hitherto insufficiently studied word-formation models
or morphological phenomena or on demonstrating the benefit etymology can take from historical syntax as well as from the folklore text linguistics. In the majority of works, not only present but often dominating, are some topics in historical semantics, such as the typology of semantic fields. Duly positioned is the method of studying words by word-families, by which the potential traps of their individual treatment are avoided. The width and depth of achieved comparative insights vary from prehistoric — Indo-European, Balto-Slavic, Proto-Slavic — to present-day Balkanistic prospectives. The objects of study are most diverse lexical categories: from words early attested in Church Slavonic manuscripts to modern dialectisms whose recent dating often does not speak against their great antiquity; from lexemes with a firm terminological status to expressive forms and argotisms; from archaisms which can be projected on the deepest levels of the proto-language to fairly recent borrowings into Slavic languages or from Slavic into other languages. Some papers deal with tracing loanwords, their chronological stratification and areal distribution, which all reflect not only the history of contacts between the languages
and nations, but also the cultural history of the respective parts of Europe. A certain number of papers present some disciplines that are closely related to etymology, such as toponomastics or ethnolinguistics. Following the methodological postulation for a comparative study of "Worter und Sachen” type, a number of authors reach for information and data from extralinguistic disciplines, such as ethnology, botany, zoology, etc. Bearing all that in mind, one can assert that this monograph reflects, to a great extent,
the present state of Slavic etymology, with all its complexity and interdisciplinary intertwining.
In accord with the tradition of the discipline in which multilingualism is not only a postulate of the scholarly profile but also a basis for mutual
communication, the papers and their summaries feature almost all Slavic languages, as well as English, German
and French. All the communications in Slavic languages are provided with summaries in one of the world languages, which makes it possible for scholars outside the domain of
Slavistics to have an insight into the contents of this monograph. For the sake of economy, the commonly
known and most frequently used abbreviations are not given among the references accompaning individual articles, but collected in a separate list following the last paper. In order to make the book more reader-friendly, at its very end an index of selected words is provided.

Papers by Marta Bjeletic

Juznoslovenski Filolog, 2009

Juznoslovenski Filolog, 2010

МАРТА БЈЕЛЕТИћ Институт за српски језик САНУ ПАБРСТИЊЕ: ПРАСЛАВЯНСКИЙ РЕЛИКТ НА СЛАВЯНСКОМ ЮГЕ * ... more МАРТА БЈЕЛЕТИћ Институт за српски језик САНУ ПАБРСТИЊЕ: ПРАСЛАВЯНСКИЙ РЕЛИКТ НА СЛАВЯНСКОМ ЮГЕ * В статье рассматривается этимология сербского диалектного существительного pабрсtиње "остатки конопли". Ключевые слова: сербский язык, славянские языки, диалектная лексика, праславянский реликт, этимология. * Овај чланак је резултат рада на пројекту 148004 "Етимолошка истраживања српског језика и израда Еtимолошкоg речника срpскоg језика" који у целини финансира Министарство за науку и технолошки развој Републике Србије.

Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences eBooks, 2023

Juznoslovenski Filolog, 2002

Juznoslovenski filolog

This paper deals with Serbian dialectal neuter gender nouns with the suffix -ije. The focus is no... more This paper deals with Serbian dialectal neuter gender nouns with the suffix -ije. The focus is not on the Church Slavonic borrowings, but on the domestic nouns formed according to a Church Slavonic word-formation model. They can be derived from verbs of various types (perfect and imperfect, transitive and intransitive, reflexive and non-reflexive), and in most cases they do not have Church Slavonic counterparts. These nouns are classified into several semantic groups: terms for meteorological phaenomena (ogrijanije, osvitanije, pometenije), nomina actionis (rktanije), terms for realia (sklepanije). However, most of them denote abstract concepts related to moral, existential and emotional spheres (preobrazenije, skapanije, po?ecenije). The nouns of this word-formation type are often used in collocations (u ogrijanije suncano, puklo mu je skapanije) and in specific contexts, such as oaths and curses (onoga mi ogrejanija, na usjecenije mu bilo). The special function of considered nouns...

Old Church Slavonic Heritage in Slavonic and Other Languages, 2021

Настоящая работа финансируется Министерством просвещения, науки и технологического развития Респу... more Настоящая работа финансируется Министерством просвещения, науки и технологического развития Республики Сербия по Договору №. 451-03-68/2020-14/200174 с Институтом сербского языка Сербской академии наук и искусств. Марта Бјелетић Церковнославянское наследие в сербских диалектах: существительные среднего рода на-ије e Church Slavonic heritage in Serbian dialects: the neuter gender nouns with the suffi x-ije. is paper deals with Church Slavonic (i.e., Serbian-Slavonic or Russian-Slavonic) neuter gender nouns with the suffi x-ije which are attested in Serbian dialects. ey are o en phonetically adapted to the characteristics of a given speech (Usječenije, Sekovanije, Avedenije, vanđelije) and sometimes they have female counterparts with the suffi x-ija (dijanija, spasenija, stradanija). Most of these words preserve the original meanings of their Church Slavonic etyma (mučenije, pogibenije, prikazanije, stradanije, sagrešenije), while some have undergone a shi or even a complete change of the original semantics (zdanije, dijanije, mrčenije, nakazanije, napadenije). ese nouns mainly indicate expressiveness and are o en used in collocations (božje nakazanije, skončanije sveta), toasts (na spasenije duše), curses (na usječenije mu bilo), etc.

Juznoslovenski filolog

У ра ду се ана ли зи ра лек си ка ко ју до но си Реч ник го во ра Ба ња на, Гра хо ва и Опут них ... more У ра ду се ана ли зи ра лек си ка ко ју до но си Реч ник го во ра Ба ња на, Гра хо ва и Опут них Ру ди на Ј. К. Ко при ви це. Пред мет ин те ре со ва ња су гла го ли ко ји са др же екс пре сив не пре фик се-твор бе не еле мен те не препо зна тљи ве у струк ту ри ре чи, до чи јег се из два ја ња до ла зи ис кљу чи во твор бе но-ети мо ло шком ана ли зом. Раз ма тра ни го вор оби лу је екс пре сивно пре фи ги ра ним гла го ли ма и њи хо вим де ри ва ти ма, чи ме се по твр ђује кон ста та ци ја да су екс пре сив ни пре вер би "про дук тив на" твор бе на ка те го ри ја у срп ском је зи ку. Кључне речи: срп ски је зик, ди ја ле кат ска лек си ка, твор ба, екс пресив ни пре фик си. * mar ta.bje le tic @isj.sa nu.ac.rs; mar ta.bje le tic @gmail.com ** Овај при лог је ре зул тат ра да на про јек ту 178007 "Ети мо ло шка ис тра жива ња срп ског је зи ка и из ра да Ети мо ло шког реч ни ка срп ског је зи ка", ко ји у це лини фи нан си ра Ми ни стар ство про све те, на у ке и тех но ло шког раз во ја Ре пу бли ке Ср би је. Из ло жен је на 45. ме ђу на род ном на уч ном са стан ку сла ви ста у Ву ко ве дане, одр жа ном 17-20. сеп тем бра 2015. го ди не у Бе о гра ду. Због свог оби ма, ко ји пре ва зи ла зи стро го за да ти број ка рак те ра (24.000 зна ко ва без про ре да), ни је могао би ти об ја вљен у збор ни ку ра до ва са ску па.

Old Church Slavonic Heritage in Slavonic and Other Languages // Studia etymologica Brunensia 25 Eds. Ilona Janyšková, Helena Karlíková & Vít Boček, 2021

This paper deals with Church Slavonic (i.e., Serbian-Slavonic or Russian-Slavonic) neuter gender ... more This paper deals with Church Slavonic (i.e., Serbian-Slavonic or Russian-Slavonic) neuter gender nouns with the suffix -ije which are attested in Serbian dialects. They are often phonetically adapted to the characteristics of a given speech (Usječenije, Sekovanije, Avedenije, vanđelije) and sometimes they have female counterparts with the suffix -ija (dijanija, spasenija, stradanija). Most of these words preserve the original meanings of their Church Slavonic etyma (mučenije, pogibenije, prikazanije, stradanije, sagrešenije), while some have undergone a shift or even a complete change of the original semantics (zdanije, dijanije,
mrčenije, nakazanije, napadenije). These nouns mainly indicate expressiveness and are often used in collocations (božje nakazanije, skončanije sveta), toasts (na spasenije duše), curses (na usječenije mu bilo), etc.

Јужнословенски филолог, 2020

Contemporary etymological research is largely aimed at rethinking hitherto offered etymological s... more Contemporary etymological research is largely aimed at rethinking hitherto
offered etymological solutions, especially for words that do not have a generally
accepted interpretation. One of those words is PSl *kovylъ / *kovylь ‘feather-grass,
Stipa pennata’, whose continuants are attested mainly in Eastern and Southern Slavic
languages: Ru. kovyľ, kovyl, Ukr. koviľ, kovila, Bel. kavyľ, Bulg. kovil, koil, kofi l,
Mac. kovil, kofi l, SCr. kovilje, Sln. kovilje.
The etymological literature has drawn attention to the potential connection of
PSl *kovylъ / *kovylь with the verb *kovyľati (sę) ‘to swing, wobble, stagger’, even
though this verb does not have a unanimously accepted interpretation either.
This paper departs from the assumption that the phytonym and verb under
consideration have a common origin, and that the prefi x *ko- is distinguished in both
forms. The verb is related to PSl *vьlati, vьlajǫ ‘to swing, swing on waves’, related
to PSl *vьlna ‘wave’, *valiti (sę) ‘to roll’, and ultimately boils down to the IE root
*ṷelH- ‘to roll’.
As among the continuants and derivatives of the PSl verb *vьlati there is a
variation of the reduced vowels (-ь- : -ъ-) at the root (cf. OCS vъlajati sę ‘to oscillate
(about waves)’, etc.), forms with the vocalism -ъ- could serve as a basis for the
occurrence of the secondary ablaut *vъl- / *vyl-. Thus, from the unconfi rmed prefi xed
form *ko-vъlati sę (a form without the prefi x *vъlati sę is reconstructed!), an intense
/ iterative *kovyl(j)ati sę could be created in the same meaning. The variance of -ati
/ -jati can be explained from the original *kovylati, koviljǫ (sę), with the subsequent
spread of the palatal ľ from the present tense stem to the infi nitive stem. This also
explains the variation of the palatal and non-palatal l at the end of the stem of the
deverbal noun *kovylъ / *kovylь

Јужнословенски филолог 72 / 3–4, 2016

This paper draws on etymological analysis of Serbian adjectives meaning ‘curly’, registered in th... more This paper draws on etymological analysis of Serbian adjectives meaning ‘curly’, registered in the material of the Common Slavic Linguistic Atlas (the Personal Characteristics of Man volume). Those that can be traced back to Proto-Slavic prototypes (kokorav, kudrav, kuštrav) have no clear and/or in disputable etymology. The same is true
of the adjectives of uncertain Proto-Slavic antiquity (čečerav, grguljav). These forms are evidently expressive, which is indicated by their variants (čečurav, čičurav; gregurav, grgurav), and the expressive lexicon is a language domain where no single etymological solution is absolutely reliable. Some of the adjectives analysed result from formal and semantic contaminations, which obscures their original structures (čečverast, čkogrtljav, kekerast, kovrdžav, kvrčav). The most transparent among them are deverbals (čupav, frckan, grčkav, vrtkav), although not all of the respective verbs have generally accepted interpretations at the Proto-Slavic level. The concepts lying at the basis of motivation models, realised by adjectives meaning ‘curly’, include the following: ‘to tear, pull apart’ (čupav, kudrav), ‘to bend’ (kuštrav), ‘something bent, knotty’ (grguljav), ‘to turn, shake’ (frckav, kovrčav, vrtkav), ‘to contract’ (grčkav, kvrčav), ‘something raised, sticking out’ (čečerav, čečverast, kekerast, kokorav). However, the final conclusions about the antiquity and distribution of the particular lexemes, onomasiological tendencies and potential lexical isoglosses can be reached only through an analysis of the complete Slavic material, which will be available after the publication of the mentioned volume of the CSLA.

Studia Borysiana. Etymologica – diachronica – slavica. W 75. rocznicę urodzin Profesora Wiesława Borysia, 2014

The paper deals with SCr verb klònuti “to lean, bend; become weak, exhausted; despair, become dis... more The paper deals with SCr verb klònuti “to lean, bend; become weak, exhausted; despair, become discouraged” from the standpoints of semantics, word-formation and etymology. The entire relevant dialectal material is presented as an argument in favor of the already existing etymological solution deriving SCr klònuti (also Sl kloníti, OCz klonúti) from PSl *klopnǫti. Two possible interpretations are proposed: either *klopnǫti < **klopěti “to hang”, meaning “to start hanging” (cf. kysnǫti < kysěti) or *klopnǫti < **klopъ adj. “hanging” (cf. *glъxnǫti < *gluxъ).

Expressive prefixes are ‘anomalous’ in relation to normal prefixes, given that their characteristics are opposite to the traits of normal prefixes: a) they are not readily apparent within the structure of the word; b) they are not productive; c) they are not regular; d) they do not have definite semantics.
Expressive prefixes reflect an independent system which functions according to its own rules.
As a word-formation category, expressive prefixes are found at other ‘peripheries’, such as in folklore, slang and in-group languages, meaning they are characteristic for several marginal classes at the same time.
Rather than tending toward economy of expression, these prefixes tend toward expressiveness, leading inevitably to greater complexity.

Juznoslovenski Filolog, 2009

Juznoslovenski Filolog, 2010

Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences eBooks, 2023

Juznoslovenski Filolog, 2002

Juznoslovenski filolog

Old Church Slavonic Heritage in Slavonic and Other Languages, 2021

Juznoslovenski filolog

Old Church Slavonic Heritage in Slavonic and Other Languages // Studia etymologica Brunensia 25 Eds. Ilona Janyšková, Helena Karlíková & Vít Boček, 2021

Јужнословенски филолог, 2020

Јужнословенски филолог 72 / 3–4, 2016

Studia Borysiana. Etymologica – diachronica – slavica. W 75. rocznicę urodzin Profesora Wiesława Borysia, 2014

Јужнословенски филолог 72 / 1–2, 2016

Expressive prefixes are a speific word-formation category, unknown in synchronic derivatology. It... more Expressive prefixes are a speific word-formation category, unknown in synchronic derivatology. It is about word-formation elements which are essentially prefixes, but which are not recognised as such in the structure of the word. They can be isolated only by word-formation and etymological analysis. In the pre sent paper, this category is studied within the context of dialectal material provided by J. K. Koprivica’s Dictionary of the Banjani, Grahovo and Oputne Rudine Speech. It is concluded that the examined speech contains a considerable number of expressively prefixed forms. Many of them have developed word families (e.g. čeprljati ‘to dig, scratch’, čomrgiti se ‘to frown’, kovriježiti se ‘to be angry’, kovrljati ‘to roll’, koprčiti se ‘to show off, boast’, temezgati ‘to be slow, sluggish’, totrčiti se ‘to swagger’), which testifies to their full integration in to the lexical system of language and high frequency of use. The analysed material corroborates the statement that the expressive preverbs are a “productive“ word-formation category in the Serbian language.

Наш језик 50 / 2, 2019

This paper deals with the problem of treatment of polysemy and homonymy using the example of the ... more This paper deals with the problem of treatment of polysemy and homonymy using the example of the verb S-Cr. kapati, as recorded in six dialectal dictionaries from South-East Serbia. The conclusion is reached that
this problem has been solved in various fashions, unsystematically and arbitrarily – mostly according to the language feeling of the authors of respective dictionaries. Since establishing two basic criteria for discriminating between polysemy and homonymy (presence or absence of common semantic
elements and common origin) remains uncertain, it becomes apparent that
dialectal lexicography necessitates thorough theoretical research into lexical polysemy, based predominantly on dialectal material. Etymology should
also contribute to solving this problem.

НАСЛЕЂЕ И СТВАРАЊЕ СВЕТИ ЋИРИЛО  СВЕТИ САВА 869–1219–2019, 2019

The paper deals with the lexemes that have preserved in the pronunciation the traces of their Old... more The paper deals with the lexemes that have preserved in the pronunciation
the traces of their Old Church Slavonic origin – neuter nouns ending in -ije. The
examples provided by Vuk Karadžić in the first edition of the “Serbian Dictionary”
(1818) are compared with the words found in the speeches of his ancestral region
(Drobnjak and Piva). The analysis shows that the compared strings of lexemes
have only one word in common (prikazanije) and that the strings belong to dif‑
ferent lexical and semantic groups. Most lexemes from the Dictionary denote
terms related to religion and ecclesiastical life, such as the names of Christian
feasts (Bogojaljenije, Vavedenije, Vaskrsenije, Obretenije, Preobraženije, Sretenije,
Us(j)ekovanije, Cv(j)etonosije) or the names of religious rituals and liturgical ob‑
jects ((b)denije, čatanije, molenije, poučenije, evanđelije, etc.). In the speeches of
Drobnjak and Piva, the nouns ending in -ije are generally reserved for abstract
concepts associated with the existential, emotional and moral spheres (zgibenije,
kastiženije, nagrđenije, patenije, samaštenije, skoptenije, čudevenije, etc.). The hy‑
pothesis is put forward that Vuk, for whom the creation of the Serbian literary
language implied its separation from Old Church Slavonic, intentionally omitted
from the Serbian Dictionary the lexemes with such a conspicuous feature of the
church language as the -ije ending. At the same time, the issue of their ultimate
origin is raised, as the aforementioned formations could also be a result of an
indigenous phonetic development.

Српска славистика : колективна монографија. Том 2, Књижевност, култура, фолклор. Питања славистике, Радови српске делегације на XVI међународном конгресу слависта, Vol. 2 (2018), 2018

This paper presents a systematic overview of what the Concise etymological dictionary of the Serb... more This paper presents a systematic overview of what the Concise etymological dictionary of the Serbian language (CEDSL) owes to the magnificent opus of Vuk Karadžić (Vuk). This contribution is directly or
indirectly reflected in all three segments of this dictionary’s lemma. What this looks like is illustrated by examples of particular lemmata.
The first part of the CEDSL lemma typically refers to Vuk’s Srpski rječnik (The Serbian dictionary, in some of its editions) as a source of the first
fixation of words hitherto unattested (s.vv. нокшир, швалер). The first edition of that dictionary is also the single source of obscene lexicon, which is also treated in CEDSL.
In the first, but also in the third part of the lemma, excerpts from folklore (lines of epic poems, proverbs, etc.) collected by Vuk are used as illustrations of the use of the words analysed (e.g. бисер, бора, брада; алат).
The third part of the lemma, reserved for various comments and discussion, abounds with data from Vuk’s Rječnik and from his wider corpus. Various formal aspects (phonetic, morphological and word-formation ones) are quoted and interpreted or else those related to semantics (original meaning, obsolete and regional meanings, semantic developements) of the words analyzed (e.g. макнути, опна; ваљати; камен; брдо; ганути, ној; поклон; кашика, новац). This part of the lemma can include facts related to the cultural history of words (e.g.
задужбина).
Etymological judgement is provided in the second part of the CEDSL lemma. It happens frequently that exactly Vuk’s data contribute to establishing the ultimate etymology, or at the very least point the pursuit of the final etymon in a certain direction. At times the very fact of presence or absence of a word in the Rječnik is indicative of its chronology and/or its status within the Serbian language (e.g. завет; одличан), and occasionally the origin of a word is implicated by Vuk’s information about its geographic distribution (e.g. кафа, но). But of the greatest consequence are instances when Vuk’s examples, by the way of their form or meaning, most directly influence the formulation of etymological judgement (e.g. кликнути, орити се).
Vuk’s entire corpus, and especially his Srpski rječnik, enters into a specific symbiosis with CEDSL: to a large extent, and in many aspects, Vuk’s material enriches CEDSL which, in its turn, sheds new light onto
deeper layers of lexical and cultural riches hidden in Vuk’s Srpski rječnik.
Keywords: Serbian language, etymology, lexicography, Srpski rječnik, Vuk Karadžić.

A contribution to the study of Cz. dial. verb *kapati ‘to go’. Departing from Czech dial. verb k... more A contribution to the study of Cz. dial. verb *kapati ‘to go’.
Departing from Czech dial. verb kapati ‘to drag oneself’, ‘to be ruined, die’ this paper oﬀers an analysis of the Slavic continuants of Proto-Slavic *kapati which are etymologically related to Lithuanian kópti ‘to climb, scale’ and Latvian kâpt ‘to climb’. The results of the analysis coveyed show that the primary meaning of Proto-Slavic *kapati could have been ‘to go, move (slowly, crawling; to climb slowly)’ > ‘to go down slowly, step by step, to fall’. The secondary meaning ‘to be ruined, die’ might have developed from either of the two primary meanings. Keywords: Czech, (Proto-)Slavic, Baltic, verb, semantics, etymology.

This article offers a semantic analysis of Slavic (mostly Serbo-Croatian) derivatives of the Prot... more This article offers a semantic analysis of Slavic (mostly Serbo-Croatian) derivatives of the Proto-Slavic verb *kapati, especially those etymologically connected with Lith. kãpanoti 'to kill', nusikãpanoti 'to die'. The results of this analysis support the supposition of the common origin of Proto-Slavic *kapati and *kopati.

This paper oﬀers an insight into ongoing work on the concise etymological dictionary of Serbian a... more This paper oﬀers an insight into ongoing work on the concise etymological dictionary of Serbian and its contribution to contemporary etymology. This is illustrated by ten lemmata (dàska, glȍmāzan, kléti se, nevàljao, obèćati, pȍrez, rȁzgovētan, vàrvarin, zȃmka, žbȗn) – each compared with respective Skok’s lemma i.e. relevant excerpt(s) from it, all of which is organised within a tentative typology of novelties present in this dictionary. New interpretations, consisting in details or on larger scale elaborations, sometimes rely on articles by the authors themselves, written previously or in the course of compiling this dictionary.