„Gėlės“ samprata aiškinamuosiuose žodynuose

BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 ANŽELIKA GAIDIENĖ, DANUTĖ LIUTKEVIČIENĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas KEY WORDS: dictionary, meaning, shade of meaning, definition, flower. INTRODUCTION The object of this article is to investigate the meaning(s) of the noun gėlė and the definition(s) of the meaning(s) given in the Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian and English explanatory dictionaries. In general, the topic of plants concerns linguists, literary scholars, ethnologists, etc. However, the flower in particular has not received much attention from linguists so far. There are several versions of the name of the flower, e.g. : Aurelija Gritėnienė investigated the image of the firefly (2014), Rūta Kazlauskaitė examined the images of the blooming poppy (2010), blooming sunflower (2014). Džiuljeta Maskuliūnienė, Regina Kvašytė have studied the semantics of flower names in children’s poetry by Janina Degutytė and Arturas Guoba (2010). At first glance, it may seem that the word flower is very specific, clear, easily recognizable and understandable. However, after examining the definitions of the meaning(s) of this word in the Lithuanian and the mentioned dictionaries and other sources, a number of questions arise. 1 The aim of this article is to determine how many possible meanings of flower can be and to compare the peculiarities of the definition of flower meaning(s) in the Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian and English explanatory dictionaries, to make proposals for the presentation of this word in the General Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language (hereinafter – GDL). To achieve the objective, the following tasks were set: to identify the most frequently chosen characteristics when defining the meaning (s) of the flower, as well as to clarify – traditional or cognitive – most often followed, and to compare the definitions given in Lithuanian dictionaries with the definitions of Latvian, Russian and English dictionaries. According to Aloyzas Gudavičius, comparative semantic studies are very important in determining the peculiarities of the categorization of reality in language: “peculiarities in language are perhaps most clearly reflected in the structure of the meaning of a word, and this is most pronounced when compared with other meanings and especially with the corresponding meanings of other languages” (Gudavičius 2009: 93). Therefore, in this article it was decided to investigate not only the meaning of the flower, presented in the Lithuanian language 1 We are referring to the Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia (hereinafter – VLEe), the Free Encyclopedia (hereinafter – Wikipedia) and the Textbook of Contemporary Lithuanian Language. The material of the latter source is discussed in detail in another article of the authors in this volume of the journal. Anželika Gaidiene, Danute Liutkevičiene. The concept of flower in the explanatory _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 dictionaries |2 dictionaries, but also compare how the flower is defined by the nearest neighbors Latvians, Russians and how tolimesni anglai 2 . According to Kristina Rutkovska et al. (2017: 30), “[k]ulturally determined is the meaning of a linguistic unit as a result of people’s interpretation of the world, and this <...> must be shown in the definition”. In other words, in the dictionary of a different nation, the same words can be defined differently, i.e., emphasize those of their features that are important and recognizable to the people of that particular nation. In this article, based on definitions of dictionary meanings rekonstruojamas leksikografinis gėlės vaizdas 3 skirtingose kalbose. Apie šio vaizdo skirtumus ir and illustrative examples, similarities will be discussed further. Meanings in dictionaries can usually be defined based on a traditional or cognitive meaning definition strategy. Below are the differences between traditional and cognitive definitions. The traditional definition often uses elements of scientific knowledge in order to convey a 4 maximum objective picture of an element of reality, based on the hierarchical internal structure of the category, which consists of a related (hyperonymous) concept and specific (distinctive) features that characterize a lower level (hyponymous) concept (Gudavičius 2009: 70–72; Rutkovska et al. 2017: 30). Cognitive definition is based on everyday, personal consciousness during the act of speaking mentioning the word; reflects all the features of lexical meaning – 5 central and peripheral, without drawing a strict boundary between the so-called denotative and pasaulio pažinimu ir patyrimu; joje stengiamasi parodyti, kokios asociacijos kyla kalbėtojo connotative features, especially if the latter are associated with certain usual contexts (Gudavičius 2009: 70–72; Rutkovska et al. 2017: 30). It can be mentioned that the authors of BZ often combine the traditional (more scientific) and cognitive definitions of the meaning of a word (for more see. Gaidienė, Liutkevičienė 2017). First of all, let’s look at the definition of the word “flower” in the Lithuanian Language Dictionary (hereinafter referred to as the LKŽe). It should be mentioned that in the LKŽ are also registered the flower synonyms žolynas, × kvietka, ×kvietkas, 6 2 The authors of the BZ, writing the dictionary text, also relied on well-known (especially presented in this article) foreign kalbų žodynų (latvių, rusų ir anglų kalbų) patirtimi,. 3 For more information on the term, see Lexicographical world view. Rutkovska et al. 2017: 31. 4 It is also called the classical, dictionary definition. 5 The term cognitive definition is used in the works of Jerzis Bartminskis (1988), A. Gudavičius (2009), K. Rutkovska and others (2015) and others. 6 In the LKŽ, the special sign "×" marks borrowed words that are not suitable for common language. Anželika Gaidiene, Danute Liutkevičiene. The concept of the flower in the explanatory _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 dictionaries |3 vainikas, but they will not be examined in great detail in this article, only 7 through them it is shown how much ambiguity arises when examining the meanings of the names naming the flower. 1 LENTELĖ. Gėlės, kvietkos, kvietko, žolyno ir vainiko reikšmių apibrėžtys LKŽe The definition of the word meaning flower11 flower 1. beautifully flowering or ornamental plant, grassland8 wheat (brus. 1. flower, квeткa) in LKŽe see grass9 grass 2. flower | houseplant10 wheat crown kvietka 1. 6. As you can see, the definition of the word flower in LKŽe is ‘beautifully flowering or decorative plant, grassland’. In other words, the word flower refers to two types of plants: (a) plants that flower beautifully; b) plants that are simply beautiful (but not necessarily have a beautiful flower). Thus, the definition of the word flower in the LKŽ captures the most typical visually perceived characteristics – flowering and simply the beauty of the flower. Table 1 shows that the words kvietka (kvietkas), herlynas and vainikas are defined as synonyms in the dictionary under consideration, so it can be understood that the dictionary considers these words as synonyms. However, there are some illustrative examples in the LKŽe lexicographic 12 article of the word gėlė: Medžiose auga žolynai, o darželyje gėlės. The wheat is made of paper, and in the kindergarten – flowers. Flowers indoor, wheat – nursery (LKŽe). These sentences would show that in people’s consciousness flower, wheat (kvietka) and grassland were not exactly the same – their place of growth is different, on the other hand, these examples contradict each other, cf.:  flower – grows in the nursery, but not in the meadows; grows in the room, but not in the nursery;  kvietka (kvietkas) – from paper, but the plant growing in the nursery is not called so; wheat grows in the nursery, but not in the room. 7 Of course, all these words are synonymous in only one meaning. 8 The second meaning of the flower ‘lightning’ is also given in LKŽ, but in this case it is not relevant. 9 The word kvietka has three other meanings in the LKŽ: ‘ring’, ‘bouquet of flowers, herbs’ and ‘ornament’. 10 The word žolynas in Lithuanian has more meanings: ‘any grassy (growing or cut) plant’, ‘weed’, ‘herb’, ‘meadow, lawn’, ‘flower garden, nursery’, ‘herbarium’, ‘bouquet’. 11 The word wreath in the LKŽ has more meanings, the first of which is ‘a weave of flowers or other grasses’ (ppr. apskrita)’. 12 Sinonimų žodyne pateikiami tokie gėlės sinonimai – žolynas, vainikas (plačiau žr. http://lkiis.lki.lt/sinonimu). Anželika Gaidiene, Danute Liutkevičiene. The concept of flower in explanatory dictionaries |4 in _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Dar palyginkime sakinius, kuriais žodžio kvietkas vartosena iliustruojama jo the lexicographic article: Kvietkai tik tie, kurie su kvietkais (with ‘flowers’ – explained by the authors of the article), o tep tai vis žolynai (LKŽe), and the word žolynas in the article: Dabar kvietkai, o labai seniai tai žolynai sakė (LKŽe). Thus, the illustrative examples presented show that an attempt is being made to show the differences between wheat and grassland. However, further dictionary material does not confirm this. Judging by the illustrative examples discussed, the word flower can mean a house or nursery flower. However, there are also illustrative sentences in LKŽ, from which the meaning of the flower is not clear, e.g. : Flowers blossomed. Flowers are in beautiful flowers, there are and completely without flowers. The second flower blossomed as the moon flowed. After examining other illustrative examples of the word kvietka (kvietkas) presented in the LKŽ, it is possible to see three nuances of the meaning of this word, related to the place of growth of kvietka (kvietko):  Just a flower (without specifying the exact place of growth). It is more likely to suspect that we are talking about a field or nursery flower (e.g., priraškė kviečių glėbį – I don’t know, or from pots), but it can also be a grown flower (e.g., laistyk kviečius, i.e. both nursery and houseplants, but not field). More illustrative examples: The wheat has already blossomed. I like the wheat scent. She gave me a hug full of wheat. No longer seen in the wild. The bee … naked along the wheat path[i] collects the dust of flowers. In spring all the wheat bloomed. There are seeds of wheat on the ground. Water the wheat.  Nursery flower, e.g. : Anas went to the kindergarten and wrote a poem. Ruth is the most beautiful wheat. Pineapple is a beautiful flower. I'll grow beautiful flowers in the nursery. I'm going to the kindergarten, and I'm going to the school with three girls.  Indoor flower, e.g. : I'm at my mother's as a wheat field. I'm like a little wheat in my mother's window, and with you, little boy, I'm like a broom in the corner. On the window, the wheat blossoms, on the handles, the blossoms were shining. From the sentences quoted in LKŽ it becomes clear that grasslands are plants that do not necessarily grow in meadows (as it seemed from the sentence mentioned earlier Grasslands grow in meadows, and flowers in the garden). Let’s look at what nuances of the meaning of grassland can be distinguished based on other illustrative examples of this word presented in LKŽ:  Just a flower (with no specific location), e.g. : The grass is beautiful, but I don't know its name. The girls were spreading herbs. The very flowering of grasslands. My sister, my guest, where you picked herbs, where you wove a wreath. The grass was growing under their feet, and our little brothers fell like leaves.  Nursery flower (at home, at the cottage, planted, sown or named specific nursery flower), e.g. : To all me grasslands more beautiful jurginė. Grass is planted Anželika Gaidiene, Danute Liutkevičiene. The concept of flower in explanatory dictionaries |5 _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 kinds – nasturtiums, marigolds. I sowed poppy, yellow grass. He made a beautiful fence for women, planted herbs. At the ridge you need to plant grass. Beautiful grassy grasses. I used to put the rake in the garden, between the grasses: I thought I would rest, and the rake thought I had rested.  Indoor flower (the dictionary highlights the shade of meaning), e.g. : The grasses are full of her window sill. I had such a grass, so before the rain the leaves are wet and drip. The grass will not decorate the window. Over a long period of time, grasslands wither. [v]andenio, we have to water the grasses. There are not many illustrative examples of the crown in the LKŽ, so it is not possible to distinguish such shades as flowers, wheat (kvietko) and grassland, cf. : Crowns bloom in beautiful clusters. Don't break the crown. Put on the wreaths. They have wreaths everywhere – on the windowsills and on the table. From the cited examples it is clear that the most important thing in this case is the ‘ring’ – the wreath is in bloom, it can be picked and buried as an ornament. It should be noted that in common language this meaning of the crown has already nebėra. Thus, it can be concluded that the meanings of all four words – gėlės, kvietka (kvietko), herlynas, vainikas – are almost identical according to the material of LKŽe. And here is what is written in the Lithuanian Language Atlas (hereinafter – LKA; 1977: 188–189): “The old range of the name of a flowering or ornamental plant is not evident from the material recorded by LKA – the map basically reflects the current area of use of this name, which has increased significantly in recent decades, especially due to the influence of literary language. <...> Sometimes the meaning of herb / herb is explained: "house flower" <...>, "house or nursery flower" <...>, "kindergarten flower" <...>, "field flower" <...>, "flowering and unflowering meadow, nursery plant" <...>, "many different flowers" <...>. The meaning of the name vainìkas is explained in some places: "flower or flower" <...>, "flowering flower" <...>. The notes of the collectors of LKA material show that kvietkà / kvietkù is sometimes called only blossoming <...>, nursery <...>, house <...>, cut <...> flower, flower flower <...>, flower and bouquet of flowers <...>“. Significant is also the footnote presented by LKA (1977: 188): „In some places gėlè is called only a small <...>, blooming <...>, beautiful <...> grassland, a flower made of paper <...>". Next, let’s look at how the words in question are defined in the Contemporary Lithuanian Language Dictionary (hereinafter – DŽ7i). ANŽELIKA GAIDIENĖ, DANUTĖ LIUTKEVIČIENĖ. Gėlės samprata aiškinamuosiuose žodynuose |6 _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 TABLE 2. Flowers, 13 grassland definitions of meanings DŽ7i DŽ7i flower word meaning beautifully flowering or having beautiful leaves plant: Indoor flowers. A bouquet of kindergarten, wild, meadow, forest g. ~ies. Dip ~es grass 1. žolė, gėlė14: Kindergarten ~ai. The gate is decorated with ~ies. Completed fields ~. Mano ~lies began to bloom (poez.). The definition of the word flower in DŽ7i is almost the same as in LKŽe, but it specifies what is the ‘ornamental plant’ (see table 2). Thus, the D7i flower is perceived as (a) a plant that produces beautiful flowers, or (b) a plant which has beautiful leaves, i.e. the definition captures the most typical visually perceived characteristics of a flower, namely flowering and beautiful leaves. The meaning of the word žolynas DŽ7i is defined not only as ‘flower’, but also as ‘grass’. It is quite confusing, especially when given in one definition, because in human consciousness grass and flower are two different things. However, perhaps it is possible to understand why this was done – the meaning of the grassland as ‘flowers’ disappears and the word grassland in human consciousness begins to mean not so much a flower as any herbaceous plant. If we compare the definitions of the meaning of the word žolynas in LKŽe and DŽ7i with the definition of this word given by BŽ, we would see that BŽ no longer has the meaning of žolynas ‘flower’, žolynas is defined as ‘any herbaceous plant’: Darželio žolynai. Lucerne is an indispensable grass on a dairy farm. 15 Organic farm of aromatic herbs. In summary, it can be said that the definition of the meaning of the word flower in LKŽe and DŽ7i is very general, unspecific, i.e. only the most typical visually perceived characteristics of the flower are mentioned – a flower can be either with a beautiful flower or with beautiful leaves, thus moving towards a cognitive strategy of definition of the meaning. However, in view of the examined examples presented in both dictionaries, the question arises whether the meanings of the flower should not be given more. As mentioned above, in the LKŽ the meaning shade ‘house flower’ was separated. Some illustrative sentences in LKŽ show that different words were even used for nursery, field and house flowers – gėlė, kvietka (kvietkas), herlynas, but these were isolated non-systematic cases of use. In addition, in illustrative examples All the flowers were soaked (LKŽe) and Flower bouquet. Dip flowers (DŽ7i) in the meaning of ‘flower’ is also no longer recorded in this dictionary. 13 Žodis kvietka (kvietkas) yra neteiktinas bendrinei kalbai, todėl DŽ7i jo nėra. Žodžio vainikas reikšmė 14 The word meadow DŽ7i has two other meanings: ‘a place where some grass grows’ and ‘a collection of grass’. 15 The word žolynas BŽ has two other meanings and one shade of meaning: ‘grassy place | land cover consisting of self-growing or sown forage grasses’ and ‘a collection of grasses, a bouquet’. Anželika Gaidiene, Danute Liutkevičiene. The concept of a flower in the explanatory dictionaries _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 |7 are cut flowers, so here we are not talking about the whole plant (flower), but about its part – without roots. It should be recalled that in LKŽ kvietka (kvietkas) still has the meaning of ‘ring’. Thus, the above examples show that the word flower probably has more than one meaning, and the main meaning should be defined by mentioning more typical characteristics of the flower. It is worth looking at how a flower is defined and how many meanings it has in dictionaries of other languages. 2. DEFINITION OF THE WORD FLOWER This chapter examines how the flower is defined in two Latvian explanatory dictionaries – MLVV and LLVV. TABLE 3. The meaning of the word flower in Latvian dictionaries The Žodynas word flower (la. puķe) 2. Flower (usually with stem) <...> 2. (flower as definition fixed in Realijų požymiai, definitions has a MLVV 1. Decorative, flowering deciduous or wild plant’, also half-shrub <...> | Decorative deciduous (flowering or ornamental <...> part of a plant) ‘has a flower’, ‘ppr. plant, 1. (gėlė kaip augalas) ‘flowering’, ‘herbaceous plant or half-shrub’ | (domestic flower) ‘decorative’, ‘decorative’, ‘flowering or plant’, ‘home decoration’ stem’ LLVV 1. Decorative, flowering (glory 1. ‘dekoratyvinis’, vai savvaļas) puskrūms <...> ‘herbaceous plant or room | Decorative neziedošs) telpu augs <...> 2. Flower (usually with stem) <...> 2. (flower as a plant) ‘dekoratīvs’, foliage, also ‘flowering’, ‘nursery half-shrub’ ‘herbaceous’ | (domestic flower) nežydintis’, ‘naminis augalas’ (flower as part of a plant) ‘has a flower’, ‘ppr. has a stem’ In particular, the Latvian dictionaries distinguish between flower as a ‘plant’ and flower as a ‘part of a plant’, i.e. a ‘flower (usually with a stem)’ (see Table 3). The latter meaning could still be defined as ‘plant without roots’, ‘croped plant’ Anželika Gaidiene, Danute Liutkevičiene. Flower concept in explanatory dictionaries |8 _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 (flower)’ or similar. Such a distinction seems logical, because in dictionaries, for example, fruits and their parent plants are usually distinguished by meaning or shade of meaning (if the name is the same), for example, pear – ‘tree’, pear – ‘fruit’; banana – ‘tropical plant’, banana – 16 ‘fruit’). In this case, the ratio is the same – the plant and its part. It should also be noted that the first meaning of the flower (‘plant’) in both MLVV and LLVV has two nuances of meaning related to the place where the flower grows: 1) ‘flowers growing in the field’ and 2) ‘flowers growing in the augančios gėlės’ iliustraciniai pavyzdžiai (LLVV – ir apibrėžtis) rodo, kad turima omenyje ir house’. Shade ‘in the field sown by man or planted, growing in nurseries, and wild, self-growing in meadows or the like flowers, cf. : Plant garden flowers (Sodinti darželyje gėles); In the meadow grow various flowers (In the meadow grew various flowers); Field Flowers (Field Flowers). This way of dividing shades also seems quite reasonable, because flowers grown in the house are usually only herbaceous plants (but not shrubs or half-shrubs). When it comes to the definitions of flower in Latvian dictionaries, it must be said that they are more detailed than the definitions of this word in Lithuanian dictionaries – if only because there is not one meaning, but three (meanings or shades). The basic meaning describes the most typical characteristics of the flower: ‘flowering’, ‘decorative’ (visually perceived characteristics); ‘nursery or wild plant’ (indication of the place of 17 growth); ‘ herbaceous plant or semi-shrub (scientific classification). In both dictionaries the definition of the first meaning of shade (i.e. ‘house flowers’) refers to the external characteristic of the flower ‘ornamental plant’ (i.e. ornate, beautiful)‚ LLVV also notes that it can be ‘flowering or non-flowering’ (so the flower does not necessarily have to be recognized by its flower). Another feature of this shade of meaning, recorded in both dictionaries, reveals the purpose of the plant – ‘plant for home decoration’ (or simply ‘house plant’). In the second definition, given in both dictionaries, the only attribute of a flower is ‘flower (usually with stem)’. Thus, the Latvian explanatory dictionaries distinguish three meanings (or shades of 18 meaning) of the word flower, which are defined on the basis of a more cognitive strategy of definition of meanings. 16 The authors of BZ adhere to the principle that, for example, a plant and its part must be distinguished by values, not by shades of values. Such a position of the authors of the BZ is confirmed by the fact that in some cases the plant and its part are even named with different words, for example, obelis – apple; juodmedis ‘tree’ – persimonas ‘its fruit’. 17 In Lithuanian, they are not half-shrubs, but bushes. Plg. VLEe: “annual, biennial or perennial herbaceous plants, less often shrubs (emphasis by the author of the article), with decorative flowers, leaves, stems, grown for decorative purposes outdoors, in rooms or greenhouses. <...>’ (see https://www.vle.lt/Straipsnis/geles-43169); plg. Wikipedia: “Most flowers are herbaceous plants, the rest are shrubs (emphasis added by the authors of the article)” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower). 18 In fact, the dictionaries of the Latvian language distinguish two meanings of the flower, but one of the meanings presented in the dictionaries still has a shade. For convenience, the authors of this article here and hereafter calculate the shade of the value as a separate value and write “value (or shade of the value)”. It should be noted that if a shade of meaning is distinguished in dictionaries, it can be considered that it is no longer the "uniform" meaning of the word. Anželika Gaidiene, Danute Liutkevičiene. Flower concept in explanatory dictionaries |9 _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Let’s look at how the word flower is defined in the explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language: SEM, MAX and TSI. 4 LENTELĖ. Žodžio gėlė reikšmių apibrėžtys rusų kalbos žodynuose Žodynas The definition of the word flower (ru. Realijų požymiai, цветок) is given in definitions СЕМ19 1. (мн. цветки', -о'в). Орган размножения цветковых растений с венчиком из petals around the petal and тычинок <...> 2. (мн. цветы', -о'в). Травянистое растение, в пору цветения имеющее яркую, часто ароматную, распускающуюся из бутона головку или соцветие <...> 3. (мн. цветы', -о'в). Яркая, часто ароматная головка или соцветие на стебле травянистого растения (цветка во 2 знач.) <...> 1. (flower as a reproductive organ) ‘plant with a crown of petals around the pistil and stems’, 2. (flower as a plant) ‘ herbaceous ‘plant with a distinctive, often fragrant flower or inflorescence unfolding from the bud during flowering’ 3. (a flower as part of a plant) ‘has a bright, often fragrant flower or inflorescence’, ‘has a stem’, ‘belongs to herbaceous plants’ МАКС 1. (мн. ц в е т ы и спец. ц в е т к и ). Часть растения, обычно имеющая вид венчика из лепестков, окружающих пестик с тычинками. <...> | Бот. Такая часть растения как орган 1. (flower as part of a plant) ‘plant part’, ‘having a crown of petals around the peduncle and stems’ | (flower as a reproductive organ) ‘part of the plant’, The Russian explanatory dictionary Толковый словарь русского языка (ТСОШ) was also looked at, but it presents the material practically 19 analogously to the SEM, so it was not included in the table. Anželika Gaidiene, Danute Liutkevičiene. The concept of flower in explanatory dictionaries |16 _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 For the average Lithuanian user, a flower can be associated not only with a herbaceous plant, but also with a shrub or half-shrub. 7. Almost all the dictionaries examined generally combine traditional and cognitive definitions of the meaning of the flower. Of the cognitive attributes, the most commonly mentioned are: the flower’s brightness (e.g., ‘often bright coloured’), smell (e.g., ‘often pleasantly scented’) and purpose (e.g., ‘plant grown for (beautiful) flowers’, ‘used as a gift’). Of the dictionaries examined, COLLINS follows more cognitive strategies for defining the meaning of flowers. Only in this dictionary the definition of ‘flower as part of a plant’ is given as ‘survives only for a short time’. After analyzing the definitions of the meaning of flower in the Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian and English explanatory dictionaries, it has to be stated that the Lithuanian language dictionaries should allocate more meanings of this word. Even the illustrative examples of the recent dictionaries show that there are two meanings of the word flower – ‘flower as a plant’ and ‘falling flower’. It is likely that in Lithuanian there is also a third meaning of the word „gėlė“ – „flower like a flower“. However, this assumption needs to be tested against textbook and survey data. It is obvious that in Lithuanian explanatory dictionaries the meaning of the word flower should be defined in more detail, more based on the cognitive strategy of definition of meaning (when priority is given to the denotation features distinguished during the categorization of the surrounding reality (and therefore easily recognizable by the reader of the dictionary), for example, by emphasizing the colour distinctiveness of the flower, its smell, indicating its purpose, perhaps even the time of existence, etc. These things should be taken into account when writing a lexicographic article about the flower for the General Lithuanian Dictionary. ŠALTINIAI BŽ: Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas. Redaktorių kolegija: D. Liutkevičienė (vyr. redaktorė), G. Naktinienė, R. Petrokienė, D. Svetikienė, K. Vosylytė, J. Zabarskaitė. (rengiamas). – Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas. Prieiga internete: http://bkz.lki.lt. CAMBRIDGE: Cambridge Dictionary. Prieiga internete: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/. COLLINS: Collins English Dictionary. Prieiga internete: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/. DŽ7i: Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas: 7-as patais. ir papild. leid. Vyr. red. Stasys Keinys. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2012; elektroninis variantas, 2015 (atnaujinta versija, 2017). Prieiga internete: http://lkiis.lki.lt/dabartinis. Flower bank. Prieiga internete: http://www.flowerbank.ru/?p=6522. ANŽELIKA GAIDIENĖ, DANUTĖ LIUTKEVIČIENĖ. Gėlės samprata aiškinamuosiuose žodynuose |17 _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 LKA: Lietuvių kalbos atlasas 1: Leksika, Vilnius: Mokslas, 1977. LKŽe: Lietuvių kalbos žodynas (t. 1–20, 1941–2002): elektroninis variantas. Redaktorių kolegija: Gertrūda Naktinienė (vyr. redaktorė), Jonas Paulauskas, Ritutė Petrokienė, Vytautas Vitkauskas, Jolanta Zabarskaitė, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2005 (atnaujinta versija, 2008). Prieiga internete: www.lkz.lt. LLVV: Latviešu literārās valodas vārdnīca. Prieiga internete: http://www.tezaurs.lv/llvv/. LRTB: Lietuvos Respublikos terminų bankas. Prieiga internete: http://terminai.vlkk.lt. MACMILLAN: Macmillan Dictionary. Prieiga internete: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/. MERRIAM-WEBSTER: Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus. Prieiga internete: https://www.merriam-webster.com/. MLVV: Mūsdienu latviešu valodas vārdnīca. Red. I. Zuicena, A. Roze. Prieiga internete: http://www.tezaurs.lv/mlvv/. OXFORD: Oxford Dictionaries. Prieiga internete: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/. Sierra Flower Finder. Prieiga internete: http://www.sierraflowerfinder.com/en/c/roses/12?page=1&flt=0. SŽ: Sinonimų žodynas / Antanas Lyberis. 2-asis patais. leid. 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Lublin: UMCS Publishing House. ANŽELIKA GAIDIENĖ, DANUTĖ LIUTKEVIČIENĖ. Gėlės samprata aiškinamuosiuose žodynuose |18 _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Gaidienė A., Liutkevičienė D. 2017. The definitions of the terms in the General Lithuanian Dictionary: Plants and Animals. – Common Language 90, 1–47. Internet access: http://www.bendrinekalba.lt/?90. Gritėnienė A. 2014. The image of Žibuoklė in contemporary Lithuanian prose. – Lithuanian language 8, 1–11. Access on the Internet: http://www.lietuviukalba.lt/index.php/lietuviukalba/article/view/95/75. Gudavičius A. 2009: Etnolingvistika: tauta kalboje, Šiauliai: Šiaulių universiteto leidykla. 2010. R. R. 2010. The image of the flowering poppy in Lithuanian poetry. – Philosophy 53–70. 15, Kazlauskaitė R. 2014. The image of the flowering sunflower in Lithuanian poetry. - Nothing Humanitariae XVI, 86–107. Maskuliūnienė D., Kvašytė R. 2010. The semantics of flower names in children’s poetry by Janina Degutytė and Arturas Guoba. – Filologija 15, 99–113. Rutkovska K., Smetona M. and Smetonienė I. 2017. Values in Lithuanian Worldview, Vilnius: Akademinė leidyba. Įteikta 2018 07 12 Adopted on 12 November 2018 THE CONCEPTION OF THE WORD FLOWER (LITH. FLOWER) IN DICTIONARIES S u m m a r y The article deals with the meanings of the noun flower and their definitions in the dictionaries of the Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian, and English languages. The study has revealed that Lithuanian dictionaries only provide one meaning of the word flower. Latvian, Russian, and English dictionaries identify more meanings of the same word. Nearly all of the dictionaries covered usually combine the traditional definitions of the meanings of flower and their cognitive counterparts. The most common cognitive attributes mentioned are: the brightness of a flower (e.g., ‘usually bright in colour’), its smell (e.g., ‘normally nice-smelling’), and purpose (e.g., ‘a plant cultivated for its (lovely) blossoms’, ‘used as a gift’). Anželika Gaidiene, Danute Liutkevičiene. Flower concept in explanatory dictionaries |19 _____________________________________________________________________________ BENDRINĖ KALBA 91 (2018) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Having analysed the definitions of the meanings of the word flower in the Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian, and English dictionaries, we have to admit that the dictionaries of the Lithuanian language should contain more meanings of this word. Illustrative examples from the latter dictionaries show that there are two meanings of the word flower: a ‘flower as a plant’ and a ‘picked flower’. It is probable that the Lithuanian language has a third meaning of the word flower, which is a ‘flower as a blossom’. Yet this presumption needs to be verified with data from corpuses and surveys. The dictionaries of the Lithuanian language should provide definition of a meaning by accentuating the chromatic more detailed definitions of the word flower, in greater reliance on the cognitive strategy of the distinction of the flower, its smell, stating its purpose, possibly lifetime, and so on. This is a list of articles in the Dictionary of the Standard Lithuanian Language (Lietuvių kalbos žodynas). lietuvių kalbos žodynas). KEYWORDS: dictionary, meaning, shade of meaning, definition, flower. ANŽELIKA GAIDIENĖ DANUTĖ LIUTKEVIČIENĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas Petro Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania [email protected] [email protected]