Przyczynek do studium nad polonizmami w języku słowackim: słc. bezčelný ‘asomatos’ (1763)

The Historical Dictionary of the Slovak Language also contains the adjective bezčelný, attested in the so-called Camaldolese Dictionary (Latin-Slovak dictionary; manuscript, 1763) as an equivalent of Latin asomatos ‘incorporeal’ (from Greek ἀσώματος ‘id.’ < Greek σῶμα ‘body’). In the authors’ opinion, the respective entry originates from the 17th century Cnapius’ Polish-Latin-Greek dictionary (vol. 2: Latin-Polish) which was one of the sources used in the compilation of the Camaldolese Dictionary. Cnapius gives the Polish form bezcielny (derivative of Polish ciało ‘body’ < Proto-Slavic *tělo) whose expected Slovak cognate is, however, beztelný (cf. Slovak telo ‘body’). The Slovak translator of the entry apparently ignored the etymology of the Latin (and Polish) lexeme and mechanically substituted the Polish consonant ć (rendered as ci in bezcielny), non-existent in Slovak, with Slovak č; in this way, he created the form bezčelný which might suggest a (fictitious) etymological connection with Slovak čelo ‘forehead’ (< Proto-Slavic *čelo; hence also Polish czoło ‘id.’). Against this background, Slovak bezčelný may be labelled as an occasional (and unfortunate) borrowing from Polish; yet it expands the existing inventory of the Slovak lexical Polonisms. In this context, the authors also point to the need for a special historical-etymological dictionary of the Polish loanwords in the Slovak language.