Religious lexis in modern dictionaries of Polish (names of nuns and monks)

Abstract

The purpose of this text, being a continuation of our considerations concerning the functioning of religious vocabulary in lexicographical context, is the analysis of one-word Christian names of religious nuns and monks. The material for study has been extracted from three modern dictionaries of Polish (Słownik języka polskiego [Dictionary of Polish], edited by Mieczysław Szymczak, Słownik współczesnego języka polskiego [Dictionary of Modern Polish], edited by Bogusław Dunaj and Uniwersalny słownik języka polskiego [Universal Dictionary of Polish], edited by Stanisław Dubisz). The total number of entries obtained is composed of 50 designations extracted from the dictionary edited by Szymczak, 32 from the volume edited by Dunaj and 52 from the last of the three dictionaries (for comparison – in the dictionary that inspired us to study religious lexis – Słownik tematyczny języka polskiego. Człowiek w krainie słów [The Topical Dictionary of Polish. Man in the Land of Words], by Małgorzata Kita and Edward Polański – there were 120 names of religious nuns and monks). The paper offers a careful chronological analysis of the material with the use of numerous lexicographic studies – from Słownik staropolski [Old-Polish Dictionary], Słownik polszczyzny XVI wieku [Dictionary of Polish of the 16th Century], through Słownik [Dictionary] by Linde, wileński [Dictionary of Vilnius], warszawski [Dictionary of Warsaw], to Praktyczny słownik współczesnej polszczyzny [Practical Dictionary of Modern Polish], edited by Halina Zgółkowa. Additionally, the authors indicated that in the network of records of individual dictionaries, the same linguistic units appear most often, and, what is more, they are defined in a similar way. As far as the differences between the dictionaries are concerned, they become more conspicuous in the sphere of lexicographical description, and especially in qualification of entries.