LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXXI (1994)

KALBOS NORMALIZACIJOS KLAUSIMAI

VILIJA DREGŪNIENĖ

NAMES OF THE PARTS OF VESSELS IN THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE

Pottery-making vocabulary can be divided thematically into 12 word groups (names of crafts, raw materials, tools, products, and other terms). This article aims to examine the names of vessel parts. They were collected from ethnographic and archaeological literature, works by art historians¹, the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language and its card index, dialect dictionaries, and folklore publications².

This is a small group of 22 words: handle, ear, arm, little arm, lid, pot lid (and variants), briannà, pôbrìannis, little wreath, throat, neck, little neck, shoulders, little shoulders, little belly, pôpilvis, leg, little leg, bottom, spout, little spout, vambrà.

It is interesting because more than half of the words are somatisms. Twelve words are names of human body parts, while three (throat, snout, and little snout) are names of animal body parts.

Somatisms are found in the vocabulary of many crafts, for example, textiles: calves, chest, sole, heart, cheeks, shoulder blade³.

J. Elisonas⁴ lists many somatisms in a glossary that gathers names for various tools and implements used in villagers’ work, as well as their parts. For example, the parts of a pitchfork are called a head in Gustonys, teeth in Gudžiūnai, and fingers in Krakės. The crosspiece of a butter churn is called little wings in Rozalimas; the front part of an oven is called the forehead (in Krakės), and a part of a wheel is called the thigh (in Josvainiai), and so on.

Names for human or animal body parts are also used in the craft vocabulary of other languages. In her monograph, A. Reķēna mentions many such cases in Latvian dialects⁵.

¹Čerbulėnas K. Lithuanian Folk Ceramics // Scholarly Works of the Higher Schools of the LSSR. History. V., 1965. Vol. 7; Galaunė P. From the History of Glass and Ceramics // Our Antiquity. Tilsit, 1922. Books 4–5; also his Lithuanian Folk Art. K., 1930; Jablonskytė-Rimantienė R. Potters of Lapainia in the Early Iron Age // From the History of Lithuanian Culture. V., 1961. Vol. 3; Kudirka J. Lithuanian Potters and Pots. V., 1973.

² Krėvė V. Patarlės ir priežodžiai. K., 1934. T. 1; Nакtinienė G. ir kt. Druskininkų tarmės žodynas. V., 1988; Petrauskas J., Vidugiris A. Lazūnų tarmės žodynas. V., 1985; Tauta ir žodis. K., 1923—1928. Kn. 1—5; Vitkauskas V. Šiaurės rytų dūnininkų šnektų žodynas. V., 1976.

³ Eigirdienė D. Lietuvių liaudies tekstilės terminai // Mūsų kalba. 1987. Nr. 4. P. 26.

⁴Elisonas J. An Attempt at a Technical Vocabulary of Lithuanian Villagers // Archivum philologicum / Ed. Pr. Skardžius. K., 1932. Vol. 3.

⁵Reķēna A. Craft Vocabulary in Some Southern Latgalian Dialects and Its Connections with Corresponding Names in Slavic Languages. Riga, 1975.

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Somatisms are also found in the Russian vocabulary of various crafts; for example, the tools and parts of a carpenter’s tools are called: козлы, конь, бородка, зуб, лоб, пальцы, ротик, ручка, and so on.⁶

When comparing the use of somatisms in the vocabulary of pottery and other crafts, we observe that the pottery vocabulary consistently lists the most important parts of the human body: ear, neck, shoulders, arm, belly, leg. The vocabulary of other crafts, such as textiles, does not exhibit such consistent repetition. Incidentally, the shape of many a pot resembles the human figure. Perhaps this is why the parts of vessels were also given the names of parts of the human body? P. Galaunė wrote that, wishing to depict himself, man began to mold pots resembling a human being—“turning from nature’s richest forms toward himself”⁷.

Anthropomorphic vessels, which were made in many parts of the world, may also be mentioned here. For example, so-called face urns with distinct facial features⁸ were discovered during excavations at Troy II. Anthropomorphic vessels from various periods have been found in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania (the Gumelnița culture), Peru, the Congo, and many other places⁹.

The face urns of the Pomeranian culture (in present-day Polish territory) are of particular interest¹⁰. M. Gimbutienė and some other archaeologists¹¹ attribute this culture to the western Balts. In M. Gimbutienė’s view, “urns were made individually, taking into account the sex and especially the social position of the deceased”¹². The female urns have large ears with ornaments threaded through them and necklaces, while weapons and battle scenes are depicted on the male ones, whose ears are small.

Interestingly, many anthropomorphic vessels were used solely for burial or other ritual purposes¹³. Thus, anthropomorphic vessels may have had a direct or indirect influence on the emergence of somatic names for vessel parts.

⁶ Rėkėna A. Cited work. P. 588; Кондратьева В. П. О профессиональной лексике псковских плотников // Труды по русскому языку. Л., 1969. С. 303.

⁷ Galaunė P. From the History of Glass and Ceramics. P. 254.

⁸ Чайлд Г. У истоков европейской цивилизации. М., 1952. С. 74.

⁹ Jaennide Fr. Geschichte der Keramik. Leipzig, 1900. S. 807; Vladár J. Praveká plastika. Tatran, 1979. P. 46, 47, 89, 111; Энциклопедия България. София, 1982. С. 385; Искусство тропической Африки в собраниях СССР. М., 1967. Nr. 154, 155; Монгайт А. Археология Западной Европы. Каменный век. М., 1973. С. 243.

¹⁰ Luka L. J. Kultura wschodniopomorska na Pomorzu Gdańskim. Wrocław—Warszawa—Kraków, 1966. T. 1.

¹¹ Gimbutienė M. The Balts in Prehistoric Times: Ethnogenesis, Material Culture, and Mythology. V., 1985. P. 78; Монгайт А. Археология Западной Европы. Бронзовый и железный века. М., 1974. С. 351.

¹² Gimbutienė M. Cited work. P. 81.

¹³ Novotný B. The Lužianska group and the beginnings of painted pottery in Slovakia. Bratislava, 1962. P. 72; Berezkin Yu. The purpose of objects with narrative images from burials of the Moche culture // Conference “Balto-Slavic ethnocultural and archaeological antiquities. Burial rite.” Abstracts of papers. M., 1985. P. 11–12.

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A. Rėkėna, analyzing the cases in which names for parts of the human or animal body begin to denote other realia, found that this may be determined by the external similarity of the realia, for example, cepla piere “the part of a bread oven located above the firebox” (the slight elevation above the oven firebox resembles a forehead)¹⁴. For this reason, some Lithuanian names for parts of vessels may also have arisen. The derived meanings of kaklo and kaklėlio are likewise explained in the LKŽ (V 92; 93) as “something resembling a neck (a part of some object),” “dim. something resembling a small neck (a part of some object).” Examples in which kaklas denotes a vessel part are already found in K. Sirvydas’s writings. These names for parts of vessels are used not only in dialects but also in the standard language.

In Salamiestis, Kupiškis, Dusetos, Dūkštas, and Sudeikiai (Utena District), the neck of a pitcher is also called gūrkliu. The LKŽ (III 753) records the following meaning of this word: “the neck of a vessel or bottle.”

The external resemblance of vessel parts to parts of the human or a bird’s body may also have led to the emergence of snapėlio and ausiės. The spout of a pitcher or another vessel is called snapų, snapelių in Pociūnėliai (Radviliškis District) and Ėriškiai (Panevėžys District). In ethnographers’ works, this vessel part is called only snapeliu. Both names are used in the standard language.

The name vambrà for a pitcher’s spout is found only in Western Lithuania. The spout of a pitcher or an imbrik is called this in Ylakiai, Raseiniai, Girkalnis, and Skirsnemunė.

The handle of a vessel is called Ausimi in Telšiai, Veiviržėnai, Viekšniai, Gargždai, Geistarai, Ūdrija (Alytus District), and Alvitas (Vilkaviškis District). This somatism can also denote the handle of a bucket, cauldron, chest, and other objects (LKŽ I 502).

Another name for this vessel part, ąsa, is used throughout Lithuania. Its primary meaning is “a small handle on a vessel for grasping” (LKŽ I 324). This vessel part is called this in Kupiškis, Mielagėnai (Ignalina District), Švenčionys, Pūšalotas, Šeduva, Lyduokiai (Ukmergė District), Geistars, Tauragnai, around Pasvalys, and many other places. The LKŽ (I 324) lists 11 other meanings of this word (a drawer handle, a loop on clothing, the eye of a needle, etc.).

The vessel handle in Rimšė, Valkininkai, and around Švenčionys is called rankele. The LKŽ (XI 163) notes that this may be a Slavicism.

The name rankà for a handle is used in Tirkšliai (Mažeikiai District), Šalčininkai, Nemunaitis (Alytus District), Žilėnai, Kabeliai (Varėna District), and around Druskininkai.

Incidentally, A. Rėkėna writes that, by analogy of function, names for body parts may be used to denote other realia, for example: riòka, riùcena “handle,” kāja “a supporting part of a loom, bench, or bed”¹⁵. The same could be said of a pot’s rañką, rankelę, which we grasp with our hand, or kóją, kojùkę, on which the vessel stands and rests. “Kojotas kragas” is already mentioned in P. Ruigys’s dictionary. The ethnographer J. Kudirka calls the lower part of a vessel kojuke.

A. Rėkėna states that names of humans or animals may be used with another meaning when an association is prompted by some characteristic feature, for example, certain

¹⁴ Rėkėna A. Min. veik. P. 585—586.

¹⁵ Ten pat. P. 585.

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The mechanisms of the lock connected in this way are called bērnenš ir mātė, that is, the relationship between mother and child is likened to the corresponding relationship between parts of the device. The word lācīs “bear” is used to mean “warp threads threaded incorrectly”¹⁶. Here a bear’s clumsiness is likened to a weaver’s carelessness. The pot’s belly, too, may have been named in this way, since an association between the referents was prompted by a characteristic feature: food is poured into both. Incidentally, the origin of the word pilvas is also linked to the verb pilti¹⁷. Pilvų, pilvelių is the name for the widest part of a pot in Krosna (Marijampolė district), Raudėnai (Šiauliai district), and around Joniškėlis. LKŽ does not give this meaning, but pilvas is also mentioned in this dictionary (LKŽ IX 1027) as “a bulge or swelling on some object.” E. Vaitulevičienė also calls this part of the vessel by another somatic term—liemuo, lie-menėlis¹⁸.

The broader part of the pot below the neck is called petūkais, petėliais. The second form with this meaning is also cited in LKŽ (IX 879).

The names petėliai, pilvelis are mentioned more often in ethnographers’ works.

As we have already noted, the same part of a vessel may be called either by a base word or by a diminutive derivative: kaklas—kaklelis, ausis—auselė, koja—kojūkė, kojėlė, ranka—rankelė. Only diminutive derivatives occur in the ethnographic literature.

Ethnographer J. Kudirka uses two names for parts of a vessel that are mentioned neither in LKŽ nor in dialect dictionaries or the works of other ethnographers. They are specific to pottery vocabulary, since they denote referents distinctive to this field: pōbriaunis “the part of a vessel between the rim and the neck,” pōpilvis “the part of a vessel between the belly and the foot.” Both names are similar in their formation.

The name briauna—“the edge, sharpness, corner, or tip of some object” (LKŽ I 1037)—is characteristic not only of pottery vocabulary. J. Kudirka uses it specifically for the rim of a vessel. Other ethnographers also use the names vainikėlis, atbraila, pakraštėlis. Thus, this referent is designated by different words.

The lid of a vessel is called dangčiu (Daukšiai (Marijampolė district), Veiveriai (Prienai district), Griškabūdis, Žagarė, Kruopiai (Akmenė district), Šilutė, Šilalė, Karklėnai (Kelmė district), Jurbarkas) or puōddangčiu (Dirvonėnai (Šiauliai district), Pagėgiai, Salantai, Veliuona, Šatės, Žygaičiai). LKŽ (X 21) records six further names of similar formation: puōddangtė, puoddaṅgtė (Laukuva, Kvėdarna, Tauragė), puoddeṅgtė (N, K)¹⁹, puodangtis (MŽ), puodangte (MŽ, D. Poška), puodengte (SD, Q), puodenklė (C) (the last four names are unaccented in LKŽ).

The word dūgnas denotes not only the bottom part of a pot but also its lid (Slavikai, Žiežmariai, Pociūnėliai, Mielagėnai, Joniškėlis, Ūdrija, Rudamina, Marijampolė, Geistarai, Rodūnia). It is also the name for the board on which vegetables are chopped (Nočia, Rudamina, Seinai).

¹⁶ Ibid. P. 586.

¹⁷ Fraenkel E. Litauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Heidelberg—Göttingen, 1962. Bd. 1. S. 593; Sabaliauskas A. Lietuvių kalbos leksika. V., 1990. P. 196.

¹⁸ Vaitulevičienė E. Household Lithuanian Folk Ceramics in the Vilnius History and Ethnography Museum // Kraštotyra. V., 1969. P. 192, 196.

¹⁹ Abbreviations as in “Lietuvių kalbos žodynas”.

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Names of vessel parts in other languages

Lithuanian names of vessel parts

rim, little crown

spout, pouring lip

neck, little neck, throat

ear, handle, little handle

shoulders

belly, little belly

leg, little leg

Latvian 6*

snīpītis “spout”

kakls, kakliņš “neck, little neck”

Polish 1; 5

szyjka “little neck”

ucho “ear”, uszko “little ear”

brzuch “belly”

Čekų 12

hrdlo “throat”, krček “neck”

ucho “ear”

nožka “little leg”

Slovakų 9; 11

hrdlo “throat”

ucho “ear”

bruško “little belly”

nožka “little leg”

Rusų 16; 18

венчик “little rim”

носик “little spout”

горло “throat”

ручка “little handle”, ушко “little ear”

плечики “little shoulders”

тулово “body”

ножка “little leg”

Baltarusų 17

венца “little wreath”

дзюбка “spout”

горла “throat”

вуха “ear”

тулова, пуза, брюха “belly”

Ukrainian 13; 15

шийка “neck”

ручка “little handle”

плечики “little shoulders”

тулуб “body”

ніжка “little leg”

English 3; 8

lip “lip”

neck “neck”

handle “handle”

shoulders “shoulders”

body “body”

foot “leg”

French 10; 14

beak “beak”

neck “collar”

foot “leg”

Rumunų 2

mouth “mouth”

neck “neck”

leg “leg”

German 4; 7

Hals “neck”

Bauch “belly”

Fuß “leg”

*The numbers in the table indicate the item number in the bibliography of the source from which the names were taken.

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Names for vessel parts—somatisms—are found not only in Lithuanian but also in other languages. The table presents such instances.

We see that somatisms for naming the rim are used only in English and Romanian: lip and gura. In three cases, the spout is called by an analogous word—the name of a bird’s body part—whereas in Russian and Lithuanian (носик and vambra) it is named after a human body part. In most languages, the neck of the vessel is designated by a word meaning ‘throat’ or ‘neck’. Only in French is the word col ‘collar’ used in this case. The handle is named using words for two referents—an ear or a hand. Only English lacks a somatism in this case (handle), but it is clear that this form is derived from hand ‘hand’. The pot’s belly is most often called its body or belly. The foot and shoulders are named analogously in every case, with no other variants.

It is difficult to explain why analogous somatisms are used in these languages to name vessel parts. Perhaps, as already mentioned, this phenomenon was inspired by the making of anthropomorphic vessels. On the other hand, the shapes of non-anthropomorphic vessels also often resemble the human figure (perhaps likewise because of the influence of anthropomorphic vessels). This may have prompted people to name parts of vessels in the same way as parts of their own bodies. We observe a strong external resemblance between these referents. However, somatisms are often used to name things that do not resemble the human body at all (see the examples provided by D. Eigirdienė and J. Elisonas). Drawing on A. Rekėna’s findings on the use of somatisms in Latvian dialects, we can account for the naming of vessel parts by somatisms in the languages mentioned. It is much harder to explain why the same parts of a pot are named by analogous terms for other referents. It would be difficult to claim that this reflects the influence of one language on another, since the phenomenon is characteristic not of two or three languages but of a larger group.

In examining the pottery-making vocabulary of Lithuanian, I observed that the group of names for vessel parts is the only one containing no loanwords. Loanwords are found in the other groups of names (craft, raw materials, and products). This may be due to the use of somatisms, since “names of body parts are generally among the oldest and most stable strata of the vocabulary of any language”²⁰.

Some Lithuanian names for vessel parts belong to the Indo-European lexical stratum: ąsa, snapas, ausis, gurklys; some, for example, rankà, vainikėlis, belong to the Balto-Slavic-period vocabulary; kaklas, koja belong to the Baltic lexical stratum; and pilvas is characteristic only of Lithuanian.

In conclusion, Lithuanian names for vessel parts form a distinctive and interesting group of words containing no loanwords. There is a pronounced tendency to name parts of a pot using somatisms. This tendency is also found in other Indo-European languages.

In dialects, both diminutive and basic forms of somatisms are used to name vessel parts, whereas contemporary ethnographic and archaeological literature attests only diminutive forms.

²⁰ Sabaliauskas A. Min. veik. P. 112.

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ŠALTINIAI

1. Alfawicka S. Ceramika malowana okresu halsztackiego w Polsce. Studium źródłoznawcze. Wrocław, 1970.

2. Canarache V. Importul amforelor Stampilate la Istria. Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romine, 1957.

3. Cook M. Greek painted Pottery. London, 1960.

4. Heuschkel H., Muche K. ABC Keramik. Leipzig, 1975.

5. Holubowicz W. Garncarstwo wiejskie zachodnich terenów Białorusi. Toruń, 1950.

6. Latviešu literārās valodas vārdnīca. Riga, 1972—1989. Sej. 1—7.

7. Liebscher I., Willert F. Technologie der Keramik. Dresden, 1955.

8. Loran S. O’Bannon. Dictionary of Ceramic Science and Engineering. New York, 1983.

9. Novotnýj B. Lužianska skupina a počiatky maľovanej keramiky na Slovensku. Bratislava, 1962.

10. Powidzki J. Zabytkoznawstwo ceramiki nowożytnej. Toruń, 1972.

11. Stullerová M. Keramika ako záľuba. Bratislava, 1987.

12. Zá'potocký M. Katalog středověké keramiky severočeského Polabí. Praha, 1979.

13. Горюнов Е. Про періодизацію десянських старожитностей другої та третьої чверті I тисячоліття н. е. // Археологія. 1975. N 18.

14. Испано-мавританская керамика. М.—Л., 1940.

15. Кравченко Н., Корпусова В. Деякі риси матеріальної культури пізньоримської Тіри // Археологія. 1975. N 18.

16. Лукин Г. Конструирование художественных изделий из керамики. М., 1979.

17. Милоченко В. Белорусское народное гончарство. Минск, 1984.

18. Рыбаков Е. Ремесло древней Руси. М., 1948.

ZUR BEZEICHNUNG DER GEFÄSSTEILE IN DER LITAUISCHEN SPRACHE

Zusammenfassung

In dem Artikel werden die Bezeichnungen von Gefäßteilen behandelt ąsą, ausis, ranką, rankėlė, dangtis, puodangtis, briauną, póbriuanis, vainikėlis, gurklys, kaklas, kaklėlis, petūkai, petėliai, pilvelis, pópilvis, koja, kojūkė, dūgnas, snāpas, snapėlis, vambrà.

Das ist eine eigenartige Wortgruppe, in der keine Entlehnungen vorhanden sind. Über die Hälfte von diesen Wörtern bilden diejenigen, die zur Bezeichnung der menschlichen Körperteile dienen. Diese Tendenz ist auch in anderen indoeuropäischen Sprachen zu bemerken.

Die meisten Bezeichnungen werden in der Literatursprache verwendet, nur einige wie z. B. vambrà nur in den Mundsprachen, andere kommen in der ethnologischen Literatur vor (petėliai, pópilvis, póbrĭunis).

In den Mundarten werden zur Bezeichnung der Gefäßteile Deminutiva- und Grundwortformen von den Somatismen benützt, während in der gegenwärtigen ethnologischen sowie archäologischen Literatur nur Deminutivaformen anzutreffen sind.