ENGLISH HERD AND POLISH TRZODA: HOW THE TWO WORDS DEVELOPED FROM ONE PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN ETYMON
Mikołaj Rychło
Uniwersytet GdańskiAbstrakt
The paper concentrates on the historical comparison of English herd and Polish
trzoda from the perspective of the hypothesis of common origin. As Polish and English
are descendants of a common ancestor, the Proto-Indo-European language, it is expected
that the two words, different from one another as they may seem today, go back to one and the same common proto-word. Consequently, the pair of cognates should exhibit the
sound correspondences which result from sound changes. The main aim of the paper is to
explain the relatedness and differentiations of the modern reflexes of the original Proto-
Indo-European word and to account for their different phonological developments in both
languages with a view to understanding the connection between the contemporary cognates.
This aim is realised by means of searching for sound changes that explain the discrepancy
in the phonological shapes of modern cognates and collecting other pairs of cognates
that demonstrate the effect of these sound changes. As the result of the historical and
comparative analysis, it is argued that some of the reconstructions are more likely than others
and, in conclusion, the most probable development of the two cognates is outlined in the
chronological order.
Słowa kluczowe:
Polish-English cognates, diachronic phonology, sound changesBibliografia
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Uniwersytet Gdański
