VOL. 55, BOOK 1, PART A, 2017, pp. 59 – 68 Full text (Bg)
Author: Krasimira Fuchedzhieva
Affiliation: Institute for Bulgarian Language, BAS
Abstract
The article deals with some verbs (verba dicendi) in spoken Bulgarian language. The central issue is the semantic structure of the verbs. The research focuses on the etymology of several common and dialect expressive verbs in the spoken language, such as дрънкам, клèпам, мèля, плèщя, which have another
initial meaning. The hypothesis is that verbs with primary meaning ‘hit’, and ‘beat’ could develop secondary meaning ‘speak (in a specific way)’. By means of examples from The Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary the article explores the mechanisms in which this secondary meaning arises.
Key words: etymology, expressive verbs, verba dicendi, semantics, diachronic linguistics, Bulgarian
