Analiza rozwoju semantycznego leksemów "płytki" i "miałki"

Abstract

The article is an attempt to present the semantic evolution of the lexeme –płytki, in the light of some important lexicographical sources and selected texts.The word płytki, the use of which has been observed in the Polish language since1556, was initially one of a few adjectives that meant – ‘not deep’. Till the secondhalf of the 19th century, the word miałki was the most significant one from amongthose adjectives. In the 16th century, the word miałki was an adjective of thebroadest range of use, however, since the 17th century, this range has begun to benarrowed down to the description of shallow water and a ditch (18th–19th century)and, finally, solely to the description of water (the first half of the 20th century).The meaning of the word miałki understood as ‘not deep’ disappeared in thesecond half of the 20th century. This adjective preserved, however, the meanings:‘fine, powdery’, which have been functioning in the Polish language since the 15thcentury. Throughout the 19th century, the meaning of the word płytki denoting‘thin, flat, sharp, suddenly striking’ disappeared, which resulted in the loss ofthe former polysemy that this adjective implied. Simultaneously, since the 18thcentury, the scope of its use in the ‘not deep’ sense has been growing. Since the16th century, it has been used more often to denote a shallow vessel or an object(a canoe or a ditch – 17th century), and since the 18th century (or maybe alreadyin the 16th century) it started to be used to describe water as well. Hence, in thesecond half of the 20th century, it could already replace the adjective miałki in the‘not deep’ meaning.