Principles of semantic reconstruction in the reconstruction of proto-slavic vocabulary

In my article I present the principles of establishing meanings in reconstructed languages. Reconstruction of meaning requires the taking into account of partial meanings reconstructed on the basis of various data, namely: the “etymological meaning”, the “structural meaning” and the “meaning reconstructed on the basis of descendants”, reconstructed by comparing the meanings of the descendants of a given “proto-lexeme” in all Slavic languages (Jakubowicz 2010). In the case of the conformity of the meanings of the descendants one may assume that the Proto-Slavic meaning is identical with the meaning which recurs in all languages. In the case of a lack of conformity of the semantics of the descendants, reconstruction consists in making attempts at tracing the actual meanings to the meanings from which the particular meanings which occur in various languages could have developed. The Proto-Slavic meaning could evolve. The morphological structure of a word may be useful in the reconstruction of the previous meaning of such a word, if a given word was derived in the Proto-Slavic context. Frequently, the meaning of a derivative which results from the semantics of the derivational basis does not depart from the meaning reconstructed on the basis of the descendants in Slavic languages. In the case of differences between the “structural” meaning and the meaning which results from a comparison of the descendants of a Proto-Slavic lexeme, one should trace the path which leads to the emergence of the meaning which is continued in Slavic languages. The still earlier stage in the development of a word is the “etymological” meaning which may be reconstructed on the basis of the comparison of the meanings of Indo-European equivalents, and in the case of a lack of such equivalents the meanings of the reconstructed PIE roots should be taken into consideration. The reliability of correct reconstruction of meaning is the greatest when the partial meanings mentioned above are consistent with each other or when there is a possibility to trace one partial meaning from another one. Jakubowicz M. Drogi słów na przestrzeni wieków. Zarys słownika motywacji semantycznych na materiale przymiotników słowiańskich odziedziczonych z prasłowiańszczyzny, SOW. 2010, 375 s.