Desacralization of Religious Lexis on the Basis of Praktyczny słownik współczesnej polszczyzny (“Practical Dictionary of Modern Polish”) Edited by Halina Zgółkowa

Abstract

The article addresses the question of desacralization of religious lexis. A lexicographic manner of discussing religious vocabulary, like in a mirror, reflects the history of the Catholic Church in Poland, and also the changes occurring in the awareness of believers. A progressing laicization of life entails the secularization of language. The observations included in the text are based on linguistic material excerpted from the fifty-volume Praktyczny słownik współczesnej polszczyzny (“Practical Dictionary of Modern Polish”) edited by Halina Zgółkowa, which was published in Poznań in the years 1994-2005. Even a superficial evaluation of the studied vocabulary shows that a very extensive collection of religious lexis becomes modified as the role of religion in the life of a modern Pole changes. The words which had originally been carriers of religious content began to function in new meanings, unrelated with religious life, sometimes preserving only their metaphorical significance. Observable disappearance of the element of sacredness finally prevents proper understanding of a given word, or even becomes the reason for its being ununderstandable.