Etymologies from the Slavic Non-Standard Lexicon: Lexicography and Examples from the Bulgarian Non-Standard of the Drinkers

Abstract

The Slavic non-standard lexicon offers rich possibilities for etymological research: for many of these words, no origin has been indicated yet in the dictionaries; little is known about their history, their frequency of use and their semantics.
While the Russian non-standard lexicon is better documented, the Bulgarian non-standard varieties are relatively rarely attested. Even less research has been done on the history of these highly expressive and interesting Bulgarian words. For many Bulgarian non-standard words from the slang and secret languages in the sphere of alcoholism, lexicographical attestation is lacking. In order to illustrate the results of the specific etymological research, we consulted several sources; nevertheless, many of these words had been classified as `with unclear etymology´ in the leading Bulgarian etymological dictionary BER. In some cases it was possible to draw parallels with related Russian words.
Considering these words we can observe interesting semantic shifts, metaphors, pars-pro-toto designations, as well as rich synonymy, characteristic word-formation patterns and highly complex word histories. The heterogeneous word origin is a mirror of the colorful life of speakers of non-standard varieties, now and from a historical point of view. Furthermore, the material bears implications for Bulgarian historical and dialectal phonetics, contact linguistics and stylistics of Bulgarian spoken varieties, often expressing depreciation for the drinker and the low-quality drinks consumed.