Linguistic and Cultural Perceptions of Selected Occupations in Eighteenth-Century Proverbs (on the Basis of Nowy dykcjonarz by Michał Abraham Troc)

(creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/pl/), which permits redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, provided that the article is properly cited. © The Author(s) 2021. Publisher: Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences [Wydawca: Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk] DOI: 10.11649/sfps.2350 Citation: Kuryłowicz, B., & Szamryk, K. K. (2021). Linguistic and cultural perceptions of selected occupations in eighteenth-century proverbs (on the basis of Nowy dykcjonarz by Michał Abraham Troc). Studia z Filologii Polskiej i Słowiańskiej, 56, Article 2350. https://doi.org/10.11649/sfps.2350 Studia z Filologii Polskiej i Słowiańskiej, 56 Warszawa 2021 Article No. 2350


Introduction
The aim of this article is to present the content of the historical dictionary entitled Nowy dykcjonarz, to jest Mownik polsko-niemiecko-francuski [A New Dictionary, That Is, A Polish-German-French Phrase-Book] (published in Leipzig in 1764) as a valuable source for the reconstruction of the historical linguistic * The project is financed from a grant received from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education under the Regional Initiative of Excellence programme for the years 2019-2022, project number 009/RID/2018/19, the amount of funding: PLN 8,791,222.00.
Page 2 of 17 picture of occupations, and thus a source to reconstruct former standard patterns of thinking about the world in terms of categories and values typical of Polish speakers from past centuries. The observations in question are based on proverbs extracted from this dictionary which contain selected names of occupations or references made to perceptions of people who performed them, presented in a cultural context. This paper is not a mere comprehensive description of the reality of Polish life in the eighteenth century as seen through language. The aim is to reproduce a small fragment of the worldview and to present possibilities offered by the study of linguistic material contained in historical lexicographic sources, with a focus on proverbs.

Linguistic worldview in proverbs
This paper follows the trends of contemporary linguistic studies, especially cultural linguistics, which examine interactions between language, culture and thought (cf. Fillmore, 1979Fillmore, , 1982Fillmore, , 1985Lakoff, 1986aLakoff, , 1986bLangacker, 2008;Taylor, 1989). In this approach, language is not a mere communication tool and a means of expression, but also an element of broadly understood culture (cf. Anusiewicz, 1994).
One of the main concepts of contemporary semantics and cognition theory is linguistic worldview (cf. Allwood, 2004;Underhill, 2009). According to the latest definition by Jerzy Bartmiński, it is a language-entrenched interpretation of reality, which can be expressed in the form of judgments about the world, people, things or events. It is an interpretation, not a reflection […]. The interpretation is a result of subjective perception and conceptualization of reality performed by the speakers of a given language; thus, it is clearly subjective and anthropocentric but also intersubjective (social).
[…] It influences […] the perception and understanding of the social situation by a member of the community. (Bartmiński, 2012, p. 23) It is worth noting that proverbs serve an important function in linguistic worldview reconstruction (cf. Jędrzejko, 2015;Młynarczyk, 2013;Stefanović, 2009). They can be perceived as a special language form in which conventional knowledge of the world is contained. Their synthetic formula makes it possible to express, in a simple and universal way, the content essential and significant for a given linguistic and cultural community. Proverbs arise from the everyday speech Page 3 of 17 of people belonging to all social strata, classes and occupations (Szpila, 2003;Wyżkiewicz-Maksimow, 2012, p. 21); hence, they expose both intersubjective and colloquial visions of reality. They are the carrier of common-sense knowledge accepted by the general public (cf. Hołówka, 1986).
Proverbs are both a document of tradition and culture, in which timeless content has been coded, as well as a testimony of a specific time -the period in which they were created and formed, a living substance of a language, the Polish language in this particular study. Proverbs accumulate knowledge about the world from different eras. Furthermore, they tell us the most about various aspects of the life of language users who had actually known and used them. Due to their strong roots in culture and language, proverbs expose highly conventionalized or even stereotyped semantic content. They are indispensable in establishing systemic connotations -those components of meaning that are expressive linguistically and socially stabilized. In the structure of a lexical unit, they form a layer of semantic features located close to the nucleus: lexical meaning (cf. Tokarski, 2013, pp. 217-246). Presentation of these stable, textually invariant components is particularly important in learning the historical aspects of the linguistic worldview. However, their reconstruction is based on a small number of source data, as diachronic studies on linguistic worldview cannot make use of surveys. Furthermore, the lexicographic definitions that inform about the features most strongly associated with the word form are utterly insufficient.
Moreover, it should be emphasized that this study focuses on proverbs proper, which differ from idiomatic expressions in their autonomy in terms of content and aphoristic character (Skorupka, 1985, pp. 363-364).

Nowy dykcjonarz by Michał Abraham Troc and its proverbs
In the opinion of Polish scholar Bogdan Walczak (1994, pp. 55-56), Nowy dykcjonarz by Michał Abraham Troc is one of the two greatest and most important achievements of eighteenth-century Polish lexicography (along with the dictionary by Danet-Kola). The work contains an abundant collection of eighteenth-century vocabulary (with about 45,500 entries). It is, therefore, a significant source of the history of Polish vocabulary, phraseology and paremiology. The value of Nowy dykcjonarz has been recognized by linguists; as a result, several stud-Page 4 of 17 ies have been based on this dictionary and considered the following topics: the nautical vocabulary (Iwanowska, 1986(Iwanowska, , 1991a, the lexicographer himself (Iwanowska, 1989a(Iwanowska, , 1989b(Iwanowska, 1990(Iwanowska, , 1993b, his lexicographic techniques (Iwanowska, 1994;Urbańczyk, 1979, pp. 292-299;Walczak, 1994, pp. 45-57) and his impact on the scholarly culture of Poland in the eighteenth century (Iwanowska, 1993a). Additionally, other studies based on Nowy dykcjonarz enabled exploring the dictionary as a source tor the reconstruction of former ways of everyday thinking and perceiving reality (Puzynina, 1993;Siekierska, 1992). Finally, a considerable part of the Polish-language material in Nowy dykcjonarz consists of proverbs. About 800 Polish proverbs have been extracted from this dictionary and analysed in several articles (Kuryłowicz, 2014(Kuryłowicz, , 2016(Kuryłowicz, , 2017(Kuryłowicz, , 2018. Therefore, there is no doubt that Nowy dykcjonarz is an interesting and inspiring source of information on Polish cultural reality through proverbs.
The proverbs recorded in Nowy dykcjonarz represent almost all areas of life as it was in the period, realities of everyday human existence as well as material products of human activity, elements of the living and inanimate world, and phenomena of spiritual culture. Through their analysis we are able to reconstruct the ways of thinking about the world which were current among eighteenth-century speakers of the language, including their judgments, beliefs and values.
It should, however, be noted at the outset that particular aspects of the indicated spheres, which are reflected in lexical units forming thematic circles, are exposed in the dictionary to various degrees: some have strong representation (many examples of use, including phraseological units and proverbs), others are very poorly or even not at all illustrated with language material.

Occupations through the lens of proverbs
The choice of the material (i.e. proverbs where occupations are one of the elements) is motivated by the need to show characteristic properties of the linguistic perception of the world emerging from Nowy dykcjonarz. It reveals the relationship between the frequency of occurrence of different proverb categories in the dictionary, compared to the methodological concept of the dictionary and the perspective1 of the world adopted by the author.

Cobbler
Proverbs using names of occupations of the period form a scarce, yet an interesting part of the material collected by Troc. They include documented examples which, in most instances, reveal a pejorative valuation of a shoemaker (szewc), as illustrated by the proverb noted in two variants: Szewcze, patrzaj twego rzemiosła2 [lit. Shoemaker, mind your own craft] and Niech szwiec swego patrzy kopyta [lit. A shoemaker should mind his own last].
In past centuries contempt for shoemakers was common. They were perceived as unreliable and unpunctual craftsmen (Adalberg, 1889(Adalberg, -1894, looking for extra income outside their trade and dealing with matters they knew nothing about (Krasnowolski, 1905, pp. 19-23). Besides, they were associated with the skinning of dead horses (Krzyżanowski, 1994, p. 219). The Polish ethnographer Jan Bystroń explains the low position and dismissive attitude towards shoemakers with the fact that, in the past, the manufacturing and repairing of footwear were done by the physically weak or the disabled, who could not perform occupations requiring physical fitness (Bystroń, 1933, pp. 107-108).
In the proverb Niech szwiec swego patrzy kopyta [lit. A shoemaker should mind his own last], the most characteristic tool associated with a shoemaker has also been preserved. The term kopyto 'shoemaker's last' is used not only to identify the occupation of the craftsman, but also as the synecdoche of the craft (Młynarczyk, 2012, image elements, their hierarchical arrangement and "focal adjustment" (cf. Langacker, 1987Langacker, , 1991Langacker, , 2008. According to Langacker (1999, p. 203), our (mental) perception of the world is the outcome of prior experience and it is to some degree biased, as there is no neutral, omniscient or aloof observer.
2 For reasons of space, entry words are marked in bold.
Page 6 of 17 p. 143). This is indicated, among others, by the equivalence of the components such as craft (rzemiosło) and shoemaker's last (kopyto) in both variants of the proverb.

Blacksmiths and wheelwrights
The proverbs containing the occupations blacksmith (kowal) and wheelwright (kołodziej) are not only carriers of historical and cultural content, but, primarily, illustrate the fact that craftsmen were distinctive members of communities, especially in small towns like Osiek, symbolizing the fools' habitat. This is illustrated by the proverbs in Troc's dictionary: Osieckie prawo: kowal zgrzeszył a kołodzieja powieszono [lit.
Osiek law: the blacksmith sinned, but the wheelwright was hanged]. The proverbs also emphasize the characteristic activity of the craft: Kto rozumu nie ma i kowal go nie ukuje [lit. Someone who has no reason can't get a blacksmith to forge it].

Cooks
Another occupation documented in eighteenth-century proverbs is a cook (kucharz): Kucharz głodem nie umrze [lit. A cook will not die of hunger]. In this proverb, revealing the qualities of high resourcefulness, cunning nature and practicality attributed to the cook, we can see the negative assessment of the occupation. In the past, when starvation was widespread, a resourceful cook was not only replete, but also -as Bystroń describes -able to make a substantial fortune, which is why cooks had the reputation of drunkards and thieves (Bystroń, 1960b, p. 488).

Doctors
It seems that doctors, whose assessment is ambivalent, are ranked between craftsmen of low position and magnates of high position. The proverbs of the eighteenth century mostly refer to their incompetence, lack of professional knowledge and dilettantism, for example: The picture of an ignorant, poorly educated doctor recorded in proverbs is confirmed by cultural sources. Zbigniew Kuchowicz (Kuchowicz, 1975, pp. 107-130) provides many examples of pseudo-doctors, charlatans, healers, miracle-workers Page 7 of 17 and quacks who came from far away and tried to cure various diseases using magical methods and miraculous mixtures. Naturally, patients who were tempted with the promise of successful treatment used their services because many serious diseases were widespread among the population in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: the plague, smallpox, typhus, marsh fever, syphilis and others. People affected by wars, malnutrition, poor hygiene, but also by dissolute lifestyles (especially at magnate courts), were prone to illnesses which were incurable due to the stage of development of medicine at the time. Bystroń concludes that even though there were many physicians, the level of their knowledge and skills was very low. The level of the whole medical education system in Poland in the first half of the eighteenth century was similar to that of the seventeenth century. For example, the medical faculty of the Cracow Academy barely subsisted from the seventeenth century: there were no funds, professors or even students. The medical faculty at the Academy in Zamość did not have a single professor of medicine for the entire half of the eighteenth century. The first medical school in Warsaw was established only in 1789. As studying abroad was expensive, medical treatment was provided by doctors who acquired practical skills, learning from their experienced colleagues as well as barber-surgeons, pharmacists and self-taught doctors, whose knowledge was based on the observation of various diseases and treatments (Bystroń, 1960a, pp. 423-425).
In spite of this unflattering image, Nowy dykcjonarz also records a proverb that recommends treating a doctor with respect: Lekarza trzeba szanować [lit. A doctor should be respected]. However, in its full version, the proverb includes a warning: Lekarza trzeba szanować, boć się też trafi chorować [lit. A doctor should be respected because illness can happen (to you)], indicating that this rule was motivated only by egotistic needs.

Executioners
Three proverbs give the idea of the position of an executioner (kat) in Polish society of the eighteenth century. The first: Dwaj kaci (kacia) w jednym miasteczku się nie pożywią [lit. Two executioners in one small town will not be able to feed themselves], informs us that it was a rare occupation due to the limited demand for this kind of service in peacetime. Two more proverbs: Duższy słabszemu często bywa katem [lit. The stronger is often an executioner to the weaker], and Złe sumnienie za kata stoi [lit. A bad conscience is like an executioner], activate the figurative meanings, emphasize the connotation Page 8 of 17 of the word kat 'executioner', strongly rooted in language and culture, such as 'cruelty', 'inflicting suffering', 'execution of a sentence', 'death'. The context of the word kat in both proverbs implies the low status of executioners, which is consistent with historical and cultural knowledge. An executioner was a despised man who evoked extreme disgust because he had blood on his hands by his own choice. In the past, his occupation made him unclean, like slaughterers, gravediggers, dog catchers, street cleaners and prostitutes, and aroused fear and hostility. At the sight of an executioner, people turned away their heads and spat with contempt (Tokarczyk, 2011, p. 70).

The Social context of the eighteenth century
To get a broader picture of daily life in eighteenth-century Poland, one also has to take a look at those in manor houses living in extravagance, splendour, prodigality, and with a passion for luxury (cf. Wiśniewska, 2009, pp. 247-248). Bystroń's description of opera performer groups can testify to the lavishness and splendour of magnates and their courts (Bystroń, 1960b, p. 265). In the eighteenth century, some of them kept operas and ballets in their palaces to dazzle their guests with grand performances. This sharp contrast in the feudal society is reflected in the language. From the perspective of a big city, a great lord and his lifestyle were much more visible than a blacksmith or shoemaker, and hence he is a component of many proverbs recorded by Troc It seems that the court life of the high and mighty was an object of careful observation because various aspects of this life are reflected in proverbs, for example, the requirement for the courtiers to own property: Błogo temu przy dworze, komu doma pług orze [lit. Blissful are those at a court whose own fields are ploughed]; hypocrisy, insincerity and arrogance characteristic of courtly life: U dworu niemasz kandoru [lit. There is no candour at the court], Prawda i pokora nie znajdzie miejsca u dwora [lit. There is no place for truth and humbleness at the court]; miserliness of the powerful: Dworska odprawa z gołemi rękoma [lit. The court's farewell with empty hands]; the greater importance of attire than the attributes of the spirit: U dworu pstro, ale mdło [lit. The court is motley but bland]. Following the trends in fashionable clothes was particularly evident in the Saxon era. The magnificence of the attire manifested itself in the originality of the cut, selection of expensive fabrics, bright colours, richness of ornaments, all of which were a token of financial and social status (cf. Kuchowicz, 1975, p. 297). This is perfectly reflected in the proverb Jakie odzienie, takie raczenie [lit. What the clothes are such is the reception]. The high social status of the magnates found an adequate reflection in the language, as can be seen from the examples presented above.

Discussion
The analysis so far shows that among nearly eight hundred proverbs from the dictionary Nowy dykcjonarz only a few are structures with the names of craftsmen, compared to the great number of proverbial references to craftsmen in today's Polish language.3 What are the reasons for this? First of all, proverbs in the dictionary by Troc have a functionalized character: they serve as an illustration of the entry words and sub-entries (cf. Kuryłowicz, 2016, pp. 183-194). It seems that it is not a matter of chance that proverbs belonging to different thematic circles have a diversified, asymmetric representation in the dictionary. For example, some proverbs with names of values, including wisdom and reason, are recorded in large numbers, while others, such as proverbs with names of craftsmen, occur incidentally. Such a selection and thematic layout of proverbs, firstly, forms part of the overall methodological concept of the dictionary; secondly, it is justified by the way of viewing the world contained in the work.
Page 10 of 17 Troc, a Polish language teacher at the University of Leipzig, translator of poetry, collaborator of the Załuski brothers in arranging their library, and Polish language enthusiast (cf. Iwanowska, 1994, pp. 291-292;Urbańczyk, 1979, p. 295;Walczak, 1994, p 52), certainly gathered the lexical material with great care and deliberately placed it in the dictionary. The aim of the lexicographer was to show the richness and beauty of the Polish language, and, thereby, to give the language greater importance in the life of the nation. Additionally, he had an aspiration to prove that the collective thought, the mental state of Polish society and the achievements of Polish science were at a high level and could be successfully described in Polish (cf. Kuryłowicz, 2016, pp. 183-194). In the preface to Nowy dykcjonarz (Troc, 1764, k. a4r), entitled "Łaskawy Czytelniku" [Dear Reader], he argued that apart from words in three languages and colloquial lexis and proverbs, he included scientific vocabulary in the lexicon. This was supposed to prove to jealous doubters that the Polish language was able to handle the scientific sphere of life and that a language is a mirror in which scientific achievements of a nation are reflected. This part of the preface says a lot about Troc's understanding of the important role of a language in the culture of a nation. The lexicographer perceived language not only as a communication tool, but also as a carrier of the collective experience and outlook on life. This belief could have an impact on extending the purpose and intention of the dictionary and developing its basic function as an aid in learning the Polish language, which is why the cultural aspect was also considered. Troc's idea was to endow the dictionary with the value of a work that is a record of the Polish cultural code, manifested in language units. For this reason, such entries as blacksmith, furrier, shoemaker, tailor, etc., due to a common understanding and good knowledge of their designates by language users of the time, include very modest illustrative material and do not feature many proverbs. In a few structures with a craft component, the names "blacksmith", "wheelwright" or "shoemaker" and their expressive, conventionalized connotations serve to build specific images. Those images cognitively express complex contents in a simple and distinct manner, for example, abstract concepts, interpersonal, social and moral relations.
The second reason for the low frequency of proverbs with the names of occupations, including craftsmen, in Nowy dykcjonarz is related to the way of perceiving the eighteenth-century Polish reality recorded in the lexicon, and stems from seeing the world from the perspective of a big city. Krystyna Siekierska (Siekierska, 1992, pp. 259-268), who studied the description of reality in the dictionaries by Knapiusz and Troc, observes that in Nowy dykcjonarz there Page 11 of 17 is a reflection of the sphere of everyday existence (including attire, apartment furnishing, food, work, entertainment, family relations, etc.) which is typical of a big city. She also notes that the everyday life of a big city permeates into the dictionary, and that Troc knew the Polish reality perfectly well, although he wrote his dictionary in Leipzig.
In the eighteenth-century Polish reality shown from the perspective of a big city, craftsmen were pushed to the background. In a big city, a blacksmith, a miller or a wheelwright were invisible figures, supporting actors, people who performed admittedly important service functions behind the scenes of glamorous court life, providing aristocracy with a comfortable life, but still, they only provided service.4 In the Saxon era in Poland, people of low status were despised, since doing nothing was in high regard at the time (Wiśniewska, 2009, p. 150); hence the negative perception of tailors, shoemakers, merchants in the moral culture and in the language, which reflects culture. The economic and social situation in the Saxon era was not without an influence on the negative image of craftsmen.
The impoverishment and decline of society had progressed since the beginning of the century. The peasantry, the burghers and the gentry were growing poorer. In cities with a guild, there were often only two masters, and craftsmen peddled from village to village with necessities because there was no market for their goods due to the crisis of consumption and decreasing prices. There were situations when master craftsmen, for example from Przemyśl, went to local markets to beg to support themselves and their families (cf. Wiśniewska, 2009, pp. 245-246).

Conclusion
The considerations presented above allow for a more general conclusion concerning the methodology of reconstruction of the linguistic worldview from the past on the basis of language material included in a historical dictionary. It is assumed that a good, reliable source for such research should meet the following criteria: it should come from one author living in the period from which the material originates; the lexicographer should display the powers of Page 12 of 17 observation, good intuition and high linguistic awareness; the material should reflect accurately the lexical resource of the period covered by the dictionary (cf. Kuryłowicz, 2018;Siekierska, 1992).
It seems that apart from these features it is necessary to take into account the intentions that motivated the lexicographer in the course of his work and the attendant picture of reality, which depends on this important factor. Both factors (the intention, which is part of the general concept of the dictionary, and the perspective of the worldview) have a significant impact on the frequency, structure and manner of presenting the vocabulary in Nowy dykcjonarz. Not only was Troc interested in showing everyday life (in a big city), reflected in colloquial lexis, but also in emphasizing the intellectual, mental and psychological sphere of Polish society. Hence scientific terms, specialist vocabulary, abstract words naming moral attitudes, values, social behaviours, features of the mind, attitudes towards life, attitude to work and other essential properties, and hence those areas of life that create the spiritual culture of a nation, which are a significant part of the Polish-language dictionary material. The immaterial sphere of life and ways of thinking about the surrounding reality have a strong representation also in proverbs (cf. Kuryłowicz, 2017).
The image of the eighteenth-century Polish reality emerging from the linguistic material of Nowy dykcjonarz is not a result of a bird's eye view or global perception of the world. We are more likely dealing with profiling,5 which involves displaying those parts of contemporary life that are important from the perspective of the lexicographer, and at the same time shifting to the background those areas that are less culturally important. The profiling in question is conditioned by the intention, object and purpose of the dictionary as well as the viewpoint and the big-city perspective adopted by the author. Taking into consideration all of these factors helps us understand better the fact that the limited exposition of craftsmen and other occupations in the language of Nowy dykcjonarz does not mean they were absent from public life. This is a result of low social rank of working people in the Saxon era in Poland and the effect of shifting the centre of gravity from the concrete, material sphere of life towards a more mental and spiritual one.