CJJ37 Czech in the context of the Indo-European Languages (introduction to etymology)

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Helena Karlíková, CSc. (lecturer)
prof. Mgr. Pavel Kosek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. Mgr. Pavel Kosek, Ph.D.
Department of Czech Language – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Bc. Silvie Hulewicz, DiS.
Supplier department: Department of Czech Language – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
The aim of the lecture is to introduce the Czech language in the wide Indo-European context; to show all the stages of the reconstructed Slavonic proto-language – from the formative processes after the end of the Indo-European proto-language up to the period of the Proto-Slavonic dialectal splitting up and the origin of the individual Slavonic languages. The explanations concerning the Proto-Slavonic language will be put into the frame of the wide Indo-European context. The changes taking place during the Proto-Slavonic period (phonological, morphological, lexical, semantic etc. changes) will be contrasted with analogical changes in the oldest stages of the individual Indo-European languages. The lecture will also contain a number of illustrative etymological explanations.
Learning outcomes
Having passed the course the student will be able:
- to differentiate and define the methods used by etymology;
- to account for the phonetic differences between related words from various Indo-European languages;
- to explain the fundamentals of genetic and elementary relationship;
- to recognize basic types of semantic changes; to reconstruct the Indo-European root on the basis of the historical-comparative method.
Syllabus
  • 1. The old and new Indo-European languages.
  • 2. Stages of Proto-Slavonic.
  • 3. The original territory of Slavonic tribes.
  • 4. Phonological development from the Early Proto-Slavonic to the Late Proto-Slavonic.
  • 5. Diachronic method.
  • 6. Indo-European root, apophony, laryngeal theory.
  • 7. Method "Wörter und Sachen".
  • 8. The Czech and Salvonic languages – phonology, morphology, word-formation.
  • 9. Lexicon of Czech and Slavonic languages.
  • 10. Kalks, noa.
  • 11. Taboo, noa.
  • 12. Genetic and elementary relationship.
Literature
    required literature
  • VEČERKA, Radoslav and Adolf ERHART. K pramenům slov. Uvedení do etymologie. (Towards the roots of words. Introduction to etymology.). Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2006, 355 pp. Nakladatelství Lidové noviny 1. ISBN 80-7106-858-6. info
    recommended literature
  • DURKIN, Philip, The Oxford Guide to Etymology. Oxford: University Press, 2009. 347 s.
  • LAMPRECHT, Arnošt. Praslovanština. Vyd. 1. V Brně: Univerzita J.E. Purkyně, 1987, 196 s. URL info
  • ERHART, Adolf. Indoevropské jazyky : srovnávací fonologie a morfologie. 1. vyd. Praha: Academia, 1982, 260 p. URL info
  • ŠLOSAR, Dušan, Jaroslav BAUER and Arnošt LAMPRECHT. Historický vývoj češtiny : hláskosloví, tvarosloví, skladba. Vyd. 1. Praha: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství, 1977, 309 s. URL info
Teaching methods
Lectures, drills, class discussion.
Assessment methods
The examination aimed at testing the student’s insight into the main theories, concepts and methodologies of the etymology on the basiis of the Czech lexicon.
Language of instruction
Czech
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/CJJ37