Some lith(h)olinguistic remarks on the characteristics of minerals, rocks and stones verbalized in Michał Arct’s Little Dictionary of Foreign Words of 1911

Abstract

This article is part of a series of studies in the field of lith(h)olinguistics and a series of publications devoted to the specifics of M. Arct’s Little Dictionary of Foreign Words. Its subject, this time, is the characteristics of minerals, rocks and stones verbalized in the lexicographic compendium, which is more than a century old today. Based on these, the author of the sketch formed five categories which makes it easier to understand that mineralogical, petrographic and gemological specimens, according to the publisher of the excerpted dictionary, are characterized by the following: 1) one specific distinguishing feature, such as: diamond, chlorite; 2) two distinctive features, such as: granite, malachite; 3) three distinctive features, such as: amethyst, amber; 4) multiple distinctive features, such as: agate, opal; 5) multiple distinctive features and nomenclatural synonyms such as: nephrite = kidney, serpentine = serpentine. What is more, in the above considerations the etymological provenance of the various denotatives described herein, as well as some archaic linguistic forms, such as karnijol, obacz have been focused on more in depth in the article. All the „linguistic data” interpreted in this lit(h)olinguistic proposal give insight into not only the various ways of enriching the Polish language, but also its development.