Mешок, worek (Eng. ‘sack’) and others: linguo-cultural image (in Russian, Polish, and other selected European languages)

Maciej Walczak

Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6313-5672


Abstract

The article focuses on the linguo-cultural specificity of a Russian and Polish lexeme
мешок / worek (Eng. ‘sack’) and words that are synonymous to it. The author focuses on
dictionary and language corpora data as well as on selected texts from Russian and Polish
belles-lettres and idiomatic units. Regarding selected European languages, the author
presents the linguistic notions typical of many languages and those that appear only in
Polish and Russian. They all concern the same object of nomination, which nevertheless
acquires various symbolism in the languages mentioned above. On the one hand, they
connote wealth and abundance, on the other hand, they evoke poverty and never-ending
expenses. Moreover, the author analyses the physical parameters of the referent (i.e.
shape, size, weight, contents) and its functions (such as storage, theft, fraud, etc.), which
trigger secondary metaphorical meanings.


Keywords:

worek, torba, specyfika lingwokulturowa, znaczenia przenośne, symbolika


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Published
2025-06-27

Cited by

Walczak, M. (2025). Mешок, worek (Eng. ‘sack’) and others: linguo-cultural image (in Russian, Polish, and other selected European languages). Papers in Linguistics, 27(2), 135–148. https://doi.org/10.31648/pj.11305

Maciej Walczak 
Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6313-5672