„Blēdis“, „blēdīgs“, „blēdnieks“ un „liekulis“ latviešu valodas senajos tekstos: nozīmes pārmaiņa?

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: XVII a. latvių tekstai; Ernstas Glückas; Biblijos vertimai; Pejoratyvinė konotacija; 17th century Latvian texts; Ernst Glück; Bible translation; Pejorative connotation.

ENThis paper discusses the words blēdis, blēdīgs, blēdnieks and liekulis as used in the 17th century Latvian texts, comparing them with modern usage and analysing the differences and possible reasons for their semantic shift. In the 17th century, the words blēdis, blēdīgs and blēdnieks had a wider scope of usage and a more negative connotation. Besides the modern meaning of ‘deceiver, liar’, the word blēdis was then more often used as a synonym for ‘villain, evil-doer’. Similarly, the dominant meanings of the adjective blēdīgs were ‘evil, vicious’ besides ‘cunning’, while in some translations it had a wider usage and expressed the meanings of ‘crooked’, ‘treacherous’, ‘dishonest’. It seems that the translator used the word blēdīgs because he could not find a more suitable equivalent for the word used in the original Bible text. Even though the 17th century dictionaries treat the words blēdis and blēdnieks as synonyms, the derivation blēdnieks has a more differentiated and varied meaning in the religious texts. This word, which nowadays is hardly ever used in Standard Latvian anymore, in the 17th century seems to have been a generic term for someone evil, comprising a wide range of negative qualities: ‘deceiver’, ‘godless, non-believing person’, ‘shameless person’, ‘evil-doer’, ‘flatterer’, ‘hypocrite’, etc. In this case, too, the interpreter seems to have chosen the word as the closest available (but not entirely appropriate) equivalent of the original word. The most widespread meaning of blēdnieks in the 17th century Latvian texts — namely that of ‘hypocrite’ — dominates only in that century and mainly in the Bible translation. It has not been supported either by earlier or later lexicographical sources, thus it could be regarded as a specific meaning introduced by the translators of the Bible.The word liekulis ‘hypocrite’ as a more suitable replacement for blēdnieks was later suggested and promoted by the translator Ernst Glück (it was probably also coined by him). [From the publication]