“Posiadam majątek, posiadam dzieci” – konceptualizacja leksemu “posiadać” na przestrzeni wieków

Abstract

This paper illustrates the semantic transformations of the lexeme possess (posiadać) – from land ownership to experience (present in modern job applications). The author focuses not only on the diachronic dictionary-corpus analysis, but most of all on the contemporary understanding of ownership, pointing to the most common valencies. The thesis of the article is as follows: the present meaning of the concept of possessing is radically different from the meanings produced in previous centuries, because for the first time in history it does not refer only to the material sphere, but also to the immaterial, or even axiological (to possess children, to possess knowledge) one. This, in turn, is related to the development of the so-called “Consumer Polish”, which the researcher analyzes in her doctoral dissertation. This particular type of Polish appears today in a colloquial form and reflects significant mental changes (according to the theory of cognitive linguistics).