Aspekty semantyczne i stylistyczne obcego słownictwa w powieści Na marne Henryka Sienkiewicza

Abstract

The plot of the first novel written by Henryk Sienkiewicz is set in Ukraine, mostly in Kiev. The writer presents two social strata: aristocracy and students of Medical Faculty of the Kiev University. The article has an analytical and exploratory character. It shows the results of the research on foreign vocabulary in the above-mentioned work of the famous novelist. The lexical units from foreign languages, compiled in the paper have been analyzed on statistical, etymological, semantical and stylistic grounds. The research focuses on four basic parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs coming from various foreign languages. In Sienkiewicz’s work they function on two levels—practically-semantic and artistic. Foreign words appear in narration, descriptions and dialogues and thus enrich Polish native vocabulary. They are used both in individual and collective characteristics of literary characters (internal, external and comparative). It is also worth mentioning that the ancient languages such as Latin and Greek do still play an important cultural role in enriching vocabulary, especially that related to terminology. In its historical development the Polish language has been influenced by such languages as Czech, German, French, Russian, Italian, Ukrainian, Hungarian as well as English, Spanish, Dutch, Hebrew or Oriental vocabulary.