Z historii polskich leksemów dla znaczenia 'bawić (się), zabawić (się), zabawa' (w kontekście słowiańskim)

Abstract

The selected words, nowadays combined with fun – spending time with pleasure – became the subject of this article. Analysis of material gathered from dictionaries registering lexis from the Old Polish period until modern times, allowed to establish the semantic transformations that influenced the researched words, to call upon their past equivalents and not their life in the history of the Polish language. Considering the reconstructed proto-Slavic meaning one can say that the semantic development of the basic lexeme of this group bawić (to have fun) took place in the period between the 15th and 17th century – from the meaning ‘to cause somebody’s stay somewhere’to ‘to entertain somebody’, first with any activity, later – and until today – with something pleasurable. The meaning of the verb zabawić (się) (to entertain (oneself)) developed in an analogous way, and similarly to the noun zabawa (fun) – from ‘obstacle’ to ac tivity, employment, work, dealing with something, and later – only ‘activities granting fun, allowing to spend time in a pleasurable manner’. From among the historical equivalents such words as: igra, igranie ‘zabawa, bawienie się’(frolic, frolicking ‘fun, having fun’), bawidełko, czaczko/cacko ‘zabawka’(gimcrack, humdinger ‘toy’) (including łątka ‘lalka’(doll)), pląs, pląsanie ‘taniec, tańczenie’(dance, dancing) were considered.