Czy owad to zwierzę?

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of Polish and Russian definitions of the owad / насекомое (“insect”) lexemes. On the basis of these definitions, the author tries to answer the question whether, from the linguistic point of view, insects are perceived as animals or not. It appears that in the majority of the Polish dictionary sources, the insect is not classified as an animal, while the Russian dictionary sources seem to be more consistent in classifying the insect as an animal. According to the author, this may be the result of the fact that the Polish dictionaries reflect linguistic notions of insects and, according to these notions, insects are not animals. On the other hand, the Russian dictionaries rely on scientific premises. These premises assume that an insect is an animal.