| Abstract [eng] |
The paper discusses the use of the noun ‘medis’ (the tree) in the Lithuanian writings of the 16th-17th c. The meanings and the occurrence of the noun ‘tree’ four centuries back at the beginning of Lithuanian writings are analysed. The sources of the same kind were chosen for the analysis: Jonas Bretkūnas’ Postilė, Mikalojus Daukša’s Postilė and Konstantinas Sirvydas’ Punktai sakymų. The analysis demonstrated that religious nature of the examined writings determined their unvaried and limited topics; that is why the semantics of the use of the noun ‘tree’ in the examined sources is not diverse. The noun tree is most often used in them in the fi rst meaning given by the Dictionary of Modern Lithuanian (Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas) ‘a perennial plant with a trunk and a crown of branches’. There are only a few examples when the noun ‘tree’ is used in the other two meanings indicated by the same dictionary (‘a cut trunk of such a plant’, and ‘wood’). The examples of meanings singled out in the Dictionary of Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalbos žodynas) ‘a forest, a wood’, which etymologically are considered to be the first meanings of the word ‘tree’, have not been found at all. In all the three postillas, the discussed noun is used in the same contexts; the sentences are often similar, differing only by some insignificant nuances. The noun ‘tree’ in the analysed writings was not often used in its literal meaning; much more often it was used in its figurative meaning or in comparisons. The image of the tree is employed to express general social, cultural, and religious symbols, qualities and features, characteristic to the man or some divine being. In the analysed texts, the noun ‘tree’ is used in collocations with coordinated and noncoordinated attributes. The collocations of the fi rst type are found more often. [...]. |
