This paper aims to describe and differentiate the diverse meanings of the adverbs rovně and zrovna during the different historical periods. It focuses on the usage of these expressions primarily in Middle Czech. Although a complete dictionary of Middle Czech is not yet available, we attempt to find the most significant functions of rovně and zrovna. Rovně is characterized by multiple meanings in Middle Czech, e.g. 'stejně', 'právě (v tu chvíli)' or 'rovnoměrně'. Zrovna does not occur until the Baroque period. However, it is much more frequent than rovně in contemporary Czech.
Numerous Old and Middle Czech derived nouns contain a morphematic component typical for verbal participles in their structure. These substantives can be interpreted in terms of word formation in different ways, depending on which semantic feature is accentuated: as motivated by a verb or by a deverbal adjective with a different meaning and categorical classification. Some other nouns are indisputably derived directly from the verbs (e.g. jědenec ‘eater’). In this article, we study possible factors for this, which involves determination of the motivation. Following our analysis, we consider the meaning of the derivative to be decisive. Finally, we observe that historical material requires modification of the onomasiological categories used in contemporary Czech, and we determine reasons for the difference between the situation of historical and contemporary Czech in this regard.
The word “neústrojný” (inorganic) is used in lexicography to describe some Old and Middle Czech lexical units. It designates lexical units with unusual word-formative structure and timelimited usage, as well as those on the boundary of the word-formative system. The contemporary Czech lexicological terms “neologism” and especially “occasional word” are essentially very close to this categorization. In spite of the fact that lexical units described using these terms often disrupt the word-formative system of the given time period, we understand them as peripheral components, as the (unsuccessful) results of intuitive attempts at systemic changes, and as manifestations of the developmental dynamics of the word-formative system.
The article deals with the expressive noun přiserač, which was used to label instigators against Jeroným of Prague during the process in Konstanz in 1416 in the old Czech translation of the Hussite Chronicle by Vavřinec of Březová. The first part of the article disclaims the necessity of text emendation. Records of the given word in 16th century texts are adduced and its word-formation structure is analyzed. The second part raises the question of whether the given denomination originates as early as in the vocabulary of Old Czech (i.e. from the period beginning in ca. 1500), or as late as in Middle Czech. In this connection, the general relationship and the possible incompatibility of a historical dictionary and a text bank is investigated.
The paper examines the multifunctionality of the word-formation suffixes used in the formation of Old and Middle Czech deverbal nouns and the possibility of using semantic maps to analyze this multifunctionality. This methodology is first briefly introduced, then a semantic map of six onomasiological categories used in the word-formation patterns is presented (based on extensive data from Old and Middle Czech dictionaries and lexical databases), showing which combinations of functions are possible in a single suffix and which are not. The map is compared with maps found in the literature and several methodological issues are discussed.
The article deals with vowel quantity in the verbal nouns ending in -aní/-ání included in Daniel Adam of Veleslavín’s dictionary Nomenclator quadrilinguis (1598). In Old Czech, vowel quantity in these verbal nouns was regulated by rules manifested as rhythmicity, whereas there is no such regulation in Modern Czech. Daniel Adam of Veleslavín’s Nomenclator contains nouns corresponding to the Old Czech vowel quantity restrictions as well as nouns corresponding to those in Modern Czech. In some cases, a phonetic explanation for the vowel quantity observed could be proposed.
Many verbs in Old, Humanistic and Baroque Czech are derived using the prefixes s-, z- and vz-. These prefixes are semantically and functionally partly synonymic: they have both resulting and perfective meaning, and, moreover, they all undergo phonetic changes in connection with the consonantal beginning of verbal roots: s- → z-, z- → s-, vz- → z-, etc. As a result, many lexical units facilitate several explanations for their origin and meaning. Functionally useless verbs disappear over the course of time due to the economy of the lexical system. This occurs in several ways: 1) through the simple elimination of lexical units redundant in terms of functional use; 2) through the reduction of registered forms frequently accompanied by shifts in meaning; 3) through the diminishing of the level of Old- and Middle-Czech polylexy in favor of verbs derived using prefixes other than s-, z- and vz-; 4) through the substitution of the prefixes s-, z- and vz- with other prefixes, formally clearly distinguishable and less exploited in terms of function, meaning and frequency of use; or possibly 5) through the general re-evaluation of the meaning and comprehension of a lexical unit.
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