The bumblebee has not only penetrated our hearts but also our language
The names for bees and bumblebees (family Apidae) and wasps and hornets (family Vespidae) represent a very interesting group in Czech dialects with a number of common features. The general semantic law of parallel formal development in semantically co-ordinate groups of words is particularly pronounced here. This is manifested, for example, by gender alignment ( beetle, hornet and wasp are both masculine), further by the spread of common suffixes (e.g. -ák: bee, hornet, wasp, fčelák ) and finally by mutual transition of meaning ( wasp, fčelák → 'beetle' etc.). However, before we reach this general conclusion, it will be necessary to look at the names for each member separately.
1. BEE (Apis mellifica)
The simplest situation is with the names of bees, for which Machek and I (Etymological Dictionary of the Czech and Slovak Languages, Prague 1957, p. 577) assume that the Proto-Slavic origin is the form bьčela, probably from the older чьbela. This is apparently an onomatopoeic word, also related to the word чьmelь (see below). In Czech dialects, as in other Slavic languages, mainly only various phonetic variations of this word appear, such as the South-West Bohemian fčala, fčála, the Doudlebské ( f ) čila and the East Moravian pščoła; the form čila is also attested from Kladsko, and in Moravia, older sources also mention the form ščela. Among the word-forming variations, there are diminutives such as fčelka, fčelička, which are more common especially in northeastern Bohemia (it is interesting that the diminutive form pčołka also prevails in the nearby Sorbian Serbian). In addition, beekeepers, especially in Bohemia, call their bees mouchy, but even in Moravia they still keep flies here and there . Sometimes these names are used only in jest — this certainly applies to the sweet fly ; the rare god's fly, on the other hand, reveals the ancient respect for "little souls-bees". However, today, on the whole, the expression moucha in the meaning of 'bee' appears only in the speech of beekeepers as a certain ancient element of their professional slang.
2. WASP (Vespa vulgaris)
A more complex picture is provided by the dialectal names for wasp. Even in terms of phonetics, there are more variations in wasp. In contrast to the Czech and Hanáč form vosa , east of the Hustopeče—Kojetín—Olomouc line, we have the form osa, also attested in Old Czech and in all Slavic languages except Sorbian Serbian (with its forms wosa, wós ). Based on comparisons with Lat. vespa, Ger. Wespe, Lit. vapsà , etc., etymologists usually reconstruct the older Proto-Slavic form u̯opsa (see e.g. Machek, cited work, p. 573). However, it seems that the initial u̯ / v in this word probably [173]disappeared already in Proto-Slavic and Czech and Sorbian vosa is a secondary form with the prefix v- before o-. This is indicated, in addition to the scarce evidence of Old Czech, by the border of the forms vosa/osa , which essentially coincides with the general border between the type voko and oko. Initial v- also changed in places to f- (cf. a similar phenomenon in the word vousy//fousy ); especially in the Litomyšl region, where we have the form fúsa, and on the northern edge of Haná with the form fusa. the form búzka, mentioned in older literature (Listy filologické 27, 1900, p. 357). In addition, in South Bohemia, the forms lúsa, lúska, and in the Český Krumlov region, occasionally húska, have also been preserved in remnants. The first change is undoubtedly related to the older bilabial pronunciation of the sound v, which was close to the old hard ł; The second is due to the instability and mutual substitution of the hiatus sounds v and h (cf. e.g. the surname Černohous next to Černovous ).
o > ó > ú have already been found several times The lengthening of vosa-vúsa (similar to, for example, voje-vúje ) is most pronounced in southern Bohemia and the center of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands; in the shortened form vusa//fusa we encounter its result also in the northwestern part of Haná and in the Zábřež region; in western Moravia, where we also have the forms vus, vusák, u is probably a reflection of the regular change of o > u in the “mountain” dialect. — Another variation is represented by the diminutive forms vúska, lúska, húska, which appear mainly in southern Bohemia and therefore do not coincide with the area of distribution of the diminutive fčelka.
However, another difference is more serious, the transition to the masculine gender in the form vos. This occurs both in the Podkrkonoší Mountains and in western Moravia from Jihlava to Blansko ( the Příruční slovník lists the form vos as obsolete from Staško and Havlíček, i.e. from authors from these areas). The form vos is then territorially joined by the derived vosák, especially from Vyškov to Židlochovicé (from Kyjov to Hustopečí in the form osák ), originally probably with a connotation of coarseness; however, both of these forms often also have the meaning of 'bumblebee' (see below).
[174]In addition to these variations of the term wasp, sršňa for wasp in southwestern Moravia in the Znojmo-Krumlov area; around Austerlitz to the east of Brno there is the derived sršňák//šršňák. The term širšuò also means wasp in Lithuanian (where the word vapsà means a hornet), so such a confusion is not limited to our territory. It is also interesting that in Klaret's Glossary (verse 226) the equivalent of the Latin vespis is also sršeň, while os is given here in the previous verse as a translation of the Latin asillus 'beetle'. The meaning of this etymologically opaque Proto-European word was probably not originally as clear-cut as it is today. Otherwise, in Czech dialects we have only the very rare occasional name marzipan from the Vyškov region for wasp.
3. HORNET (Vespa crabro)
We encounter even more varied variations in the ancient expression sršeň (for the etymology from the Indo-European onomatopoeic base k'rs-, to make sharp sounds, see especially Holub-Kopečný, Etymological Dictionary of the Czech Language, Prague 1952, p. 348, where this word is associated with the expressions sršet, srst ). This was caused primarily by the more difficult consonant cluster at the beginning of the word. Already in Old Czech, for example, the above-mentioned place from Klaret in various manuscripts is attested as ssrsen, ssrssien, srssen. In addition to the South-West Bohemian variations such as sršán, stržán, širšáň and širšán, recorded by Voráč (cited work, p. 15), of which our survey once again confirmed the form širšán in the Stříbrsk and Přeštice regions, there is the South-Eastern Hohánác and Moravian-Slovak assimilated šršeň, East-Wolach šeršiň and East-Wolach, Wallachian and Moravian-Slovak šršleň ( sršljen , bršleň also occurs in the Hranice region Another series of differences were created by changes in the quality of the vowel e after the original soft š. As part of the Opava change e > o šyršoň and the Hlučín arose — the South-West Bohemian change (depalatalization) 'e > and in turn gave rise to the forms sršan, sršaň (especially in the Netolice region). Otherwise, in southwestern Bohemia and also in the Podkrkonoší Mountains, there was also a change in the quantity of this sound, and we have [175]there commonly sršán//sršáň and also doudlebské sršín. the term sršán -án could therefore also be included in the framework of the word-forming type dłuňán ).
An even more complex question, which we cannot yet answer precisely, is the gender classification of the word sršeň. If in Bohemia, and exceptionally also in Moravia, we encounter forms of the type sršen and sršán (in a clear predominance in the area with the change 'e > a, but also elsewhere), this is undoubtedly a masculine gender. However, in the form sršeň, whose ending corresponds to the majority state in Slavic languages, we must also take into account the possibility of leaning towards the feminine gender (certainly also due to the influence of the coordinate words vosa and fčela ). Especially in western Moravia, the feminine gender is probably basic, since in the Dačice—Třebíč—Brno—Znojmo area only the 1st person singular sršňe//sršňa is known. sršeň with the masculine suffix occurred ; we have forms such as sršák (near Olomouc), sršnák (near Litovl), sršňák (from Prostějov to Židlochovicé), šršňák (west of Kyjov) and the rarely transformed frfňák (west of Brno). It is noteworthy that almost all of these variations occur in various places in Bohemia, primarily in Slánsko and Podkrkonoší, but usually only as expressively colored variants. Only in Central and Eastern Moravia was the suffix -ál used : sršňál//šršňál.
In addition to variations of the term hornet, we can note from those places in southwestern Moravia where they use the name hornet for a wasp, its interesting secondary distinction by an adjective expressing the greater size and fighting spirit of this rarer insect in comparison with the common and seemingly basic wasp (in note 4 we pointed out that in many places the hornet is simply identified with a wasp). In particular, in the Hrotovice region the military hornet (or even the military ) the hornet , i.e. wasps military hornet is also mentioned; west of Brno, a large hornet, or rather a wasp, In addition, from Moravian Krumlov, the simple designation soldier (cf. also the formally concurrent term vosák 'bumblebee') and in the Oslavan region three times palcufka, i.e. hornet thumb-sized, as thick as a thumb. In the palčák (parallel to sršňák etc.) is often used palcák. Finally, rare names include cigánka (Mor. Krumlov), probably due to the darker color of the hornet (from the Vyškov region, however, cigánka is mentioned as a designation for a dark bumblebee), and also harganáš (from Židlochovice) and fčelojed (from Austerlitz).
4. Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
The most diverse in our group are undoubtedly the dialectal names for the bumblebee; they are among the most diverse among the names of insects in general. (This is due to the fact that the bumblebee is the subject of great interest to Klukov.) The most diverse are the various names of onomatopoeic character, which are based on the sound effects of the bumblebee's flight. In the basic name bumblebee from the Indo-European onomatopoeic base km- (for this etymology, see Holub-Kopečný, cited work, p. 94), this motivation has already been largely erased, but in its numerous variations it is always updated again. It is then significantly applied in names such as brunďibár, bzučán, bunčák, and secondarily also in borrowed names homrál, mumel , etc.
The word čmelák originated from the older čmel, which has been preserved to this day in the east of our territory, especially in the Laščian and Wallachian regions. In addition to the common derivation with the suffix -ák, which we are not even aware of in this case, there are several other, more striking suffixes, such as -ec in Sušice šmulec, -da in the joking čmelda, -dán, in Přešice čmoldán, šmoldán (Kubín also mentions the anagrams čmejdlán and čmejdlík ), -ár in the rare Vyškov čmelár. Most of these variations also include the alternation čm-/šm-, which is also evident in the form čmelák, especially in the Blansko and Dolská regions. In addition, in the Kopaničárské region and in the Břeclav region we have the variation čmrlák, further west we have the rare šmrlák and čmerhák (from the Dol region) — the group ščm- / štm- attested in Old Czech ščmel (cf. in the Klaret Glossary, line 223: ščmel fucus) is no longer known in today's dialects. [177] However, the later variations live on in the Russian (ščemeľ), Polish (trzmiel) and Slovenian (črmelj) dialects. Other forms, such as fčelák, fčeluňák and fčelunďák, recorded mainly in southeastern Moravia, did not arise through a phonetic transition, but rather through an inclination to the word fčela — in this area čmelák is also called the local fčela somewhere. This also applies to the Bučovice cross-form bunčelák (= bunčák × fčelák ); In the Dačice-Jemnice čmedulák, bmelák and medulák crossed
Even more strongly suggest the tone of the bumblebee's flight are the names formed by a series of expressive suffixes from the bases bru(n)-, bzu(č)- and bun(č)-. Thus, in most of Bohemia, with the exception of parts of the southwestern Bohemian region, the bumblebee is also called brunďibár, but also brunďibál, brunďivál and brunďivár , in the Broumov region brumberák, near Louny briefly brumbár, near Plas it also appears brunťa, in the Klatovy region brunďál, near Týn n. Vltavou bručán, near Dačice bručák, near Mor. Budějovice brunčák, near Mor. Krumlov even břončák and burda. From the related base bzuč-, such names are derived more in the south: these include, for example, bzučán in the Prachatice region (parallel to sršán ), bzučák in southwestern Moravia, bzunda near Blansko, and especially bzunčák and bzunták in the Bučovice region, which already form a transition to the forms in southeastern Moravia from the base bun ( č )-: in the area from Kojetín to Kyjov, the survey found the forms buňák, buňár, bunčál, bunčák, bundžák .
A special type in this group of names is represented by the forms mumel, mumlák in Manětínsko; in the nearby Stříbrsko we also find the forms hum(e)l, humlák (from German Hummel hómrál was recorded at Šternberk and at Mor. Krumlova mamrča. All these borrowed forms are also onomatopoeic.
Another large group of names is based on the idea of the bumblebee's honey-bearing [178] capacity; for this reason, the bumblebee has received the strangest names, especially in children's environments, such as medák (almost throughout Bohemia and also in Moravia), meďák (mainly in central and northwestern Bohemia) meďurák only in central Bohemia medulák (mainly in the Brdy region), occasionally also medous (near Přeštice) and in Moravia also medajda, medal, medón, and even mezulán (with a tendency towards a common insult).
There are still some special names, common especially in South Moravia, such as the probably borrowed gáňa, the onomatopoeic som, bzum, the figurative basa and cigánka, and especially the Třebíč baba, which is the only one of them that lives in a larger area. The name baba , in the diminutive form babka, babulinka , etc., is also given to other types of insects, such as the beetle and the ladybug; the reason for the name is always somewhat different, however. The West Moravian baba 'bumblebee' is ultimately probably related to onomatopoeic names. The term baba is found almost only in the area with the form of sršňa, so here we have fčela, vosa, sršňa, baba only feminine names.
Finally, the names that have been transferred to the bumblebee from related species are very important, again especially in southern Moravia. In addition to the aforementioned fčelák and zemská fčela, this includes in particular the designation vos, still widely used alongside the rarer vosák in southwestern Moravia, and the purely derived vosák in the vicinity of Austerlitz. This shift in meaning is apparently related to the confusion between hornet and wasp (see above, p. 174 ), and it seems that it was this that gave the impetus for the transfer of the name hornet to wasp: the ambiguity of the term vos (= 'wasp' and 'bumblebee') had to be removed by renaming the wasp.
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It is obvious that the names for the bumblebee, despite their variety, are quite variable and therefore more easily accessible to the influence of co-ordinate names, so that the names fčelák, vosák, etc. do not surprise us at all. Čmelák stands in first place, even when it comes to how it affects our entire group in terms of form. Its influence is most clearly manifested here in the expansion of the originally coarsening suffix -ák. While numerous other derivational suffixes, such as -án, -ál, -ár, -oun, -ous, -da, -ťa, were used mainly in dialectal names for the bumblebee from the base med- and the type brun-, we have in this suffix a striking example of model formation, which applies to all bases of co-ordinate words. For the names of bumblebees, it is, for example, medák, meďurák, čmedulák, mumlák, babák (in fact, even brumbár could have changed to brumberáka ) — for other basic names, it is vosák, vosňák, and especially sršák, šršňák, etc.; finally, the case of the form fčelák (see below). This unifying suffix reached its peak in northeastern Bohemia, and especially in central and southeastern Moravia, where we have the forms vosák, šršňák, čmelák (or even fčelák ) side by side. — Otherwise, we have such word-forming parallels mainly only between the names for bumblebees and hornets; for example, in the Hanáčky and East Moravian forms sršňál-bunčál, or in the Southwestern sršán-bzučán. In the word sršán, the awareness of derivation is actually revived, which had otherwise disappeared sršeň a similar case is represented by the rare parallel fčela-čmela (common in Sorbian Serbian) and fčela-fčelák. In one case, we can finally point out the relationship between the names sršňák and vošňák (near Blansko).
Otherwise, the bumblebee other members of the order, especially the wasp, with its masculine gender — partly perhaps also together with the hornet-stinging hornet, whose nature is the most ambivalent in this respect. Especially when the word wasp was given the meaning 'bumblebee', it always leaned towards the masculine gender.
The ancient, but now largely erased etymological relationship between the terms včela and čmelák (cf. Machek, cited work, p. 557). This relationship is revived more only in southeastern Moravia with the names zemská fčela, fčelák. The form fčelák and the coarsened fčelunďák are actually a kind of shift of the basic name fčela to the masculine gender, as if to designate a male bee (similar to the pairs žába-žábák, moucha-mušák the bee remains the only one always in the feminine gender, the names for the bumblebee are usually in the masculine gender.
In the South Moravian region, all these mutually complementary semantic shifts and form changes were most abundant, and essentially in two different ways: Southwest of Brno, the name sršňa also spread to the wasp, when the name wasp was used in the form of vos as a designation for a bumblebee, and the actual wasp received the distinguishing adjective military, or large. East of Brno, with its center in the Slavkov region, where there were also semantic shifts sršeň → 'wasp' and wasp → 'beetle', this was joined by the strong influence of the suffix -ák. Against the southwestern Hoháná sršňa (feminine gender) × vos (masculine gender), we have [180]the parallel šršňák//vosák//čmelák. In contrast, there was no such precise semantic distinction of the bases.
Today, however, all such dialectal shifts in meaning are rapidly disappearing under the pressure of the literary language (for example, the survey recorded the name sršňa in the meaning of 'wasp' in only 18 cases west of Brno). The situation is only slightly different in this respect in the Slavkov area, where today, due to the literary meanings of the words vosa, sršeň, the dialectal expressions vosák and šršňák also potentially ambiguous: vosák = 1. wasp, 2. bumblebee; šršňák = 1. hornet, 2. wasp; here too, however, the transferred second meaning is applied only in the archaic layer of the rural dialect, and even then not very significantly; for example, Gregor's dictionary from this area records only the first meaning for both expressions. It is also significant that, with the overall fluctuation of this field of meaning, there is also another secondary distinction within the entire triad of co-ordinate concepts (the bee always remains unambiguous here): in the southeastern Blanensko region, the survey reports the triad vosák 'čmelák' — vusňák 'vosa' — with ršňák 'sršeň', in the western Vyškov region the name marzipán is documented for the wasp , for the bumblebee the earthen fčela, gygánka, in the Slavkov region for the hornet the fčelojed, palčák, palcák, in the Hustopeč region the harganáš.
As you can see, in our dialects, the names of stinging hymenoptera insects have sometimes become intertwined in such a way that they are difficult to distinguish from each other. This is certainly partly due to the nature of the thing being described — at first glance, all these types of insects are quite similar to each other, especially in color; the fact that these are insects with stings is also significant, and finally, the fact that they are mostly insects that produce honey is also significant. On the whole, the wasp and the hornet are the closest, and they are also the most frequently confused — mainly, however, to the detriment of the hornet, probably due to its relative rarity. It is much further from the wasp to the bumblebee, and the confusion here tends to be of expressive origin — the bumblebee therefore occupies a unique position in its group in terms of the variety of names. The useful domestic bee has long been distinguished from its wild relatives in another way. It is practically never confused with them; However, it is often the starting point for naming a related bumblebee (cf. our [181] bumblebee, earth bee, French abeille terrestre, English humble-bee, Hungarian poszméh ) and is the only one that also points outside our range to a close fly.
Almost all the semantic changes that we have observed depend on the shifting of meaning within a certain group of co-ordinate words. A similar semantic development is so far observed more in multifaceted abstract concepts such as freedom, reason, beauty, speed, and so on, and we speak of synonymous meaning-making processes within the so-called semantic fields. In this paper, we wanted to show how similar processes actually take place to some extent within groups of co-ordinate words. These processes are a particularly rewarding subject of study in the area of names of smaller animals and less significant plants. Here, such shifting of meaning boundaries is often applied even more strongly than the metaphorical transfer of meaning in figurative names. We therefore believe that in addition to the study of the most diverse naming motifs, which are so brilliantly developed in particular by Vážný in his pioneering semasiological study "On the Names of Butterflies in Slovak Dialects" (Bratislava 1955), it will continue to be necessary in our dialectology to examine the mutual relationship of naming within certain groups of co-ordinate words, which more or less influence each other both in terms of meaning and formality.